Melbourne Stars will take on Sydney Thunder in the fifth game of the Big Bash League (BBL) 2015-2016 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.
On one hand, Stars will be looking to avoid the second defeat in a row and on the other Thunder will be eyeing their second straight win in the ongoing edition of the BBL.
The Hussey brothers, Michael and David, who are leading their respective contingents on Sunday, will try and give their 100% to secure a victory.
Thunder, who have not had great seasons in the past in any of the BBLs, have started off on a brilliant note. In the opening game of the BBL 2015-16, they handed a 37-run drubbing to Syndey Sixers. Michael Hussey was the man of the moment, leading his side to that fantastic win with 80 runs from just 59 balls, which helped his side post a huge total.
Sixer batsmen succumbed to the pressure exerted by the Thunder bowling lineup, and were bundled out with ease. Shane Watson and Andre Russell picked up six wickets in tandem to hand their side the first ever victory over the Sixers ever since the inception of the BBL.
Stars on the other hand lost to Adelaide Strikers in their first game of the BBL. They had to chase a total of 188 runs in their alotted 20 overs but fell short by 19 runs, in spite of a star-studded batting lineup.
Usman Khawaja has recovered from his hamstring injury and has been included in the 13-man squad for their encounter against Stars. Khawaja will add to the batting lineup of Thunder, which already looks pretty ominous.
"It's going to be a test and I'm not going to go out there and nurse it in any way because I want to test it. I don't want to go into the Boxing Day Test match not having that confidence. I want to go out pretty hard," Khawaja told reporters on Saturday.
Squads:
Melbourne Stars: David Hussey (c), Michael Beer, Scott Boland, James Faulkner, Evan Gulbis, Peter Handscomb, John Hastings, Ben Hilfenhaus, Glenn Maxwell, Kevin Pietersen, Marcus Stoinis, Luke Wright, Adam Zampa.
Sydney Thunder: Mike Hussey (c), Fawad Ahmed, Aiden Blizzard Chris Green, Jacques Kallis, Usman Khawaja, Chris Hartley, Clint McKay, Kurtis Patterson, Ben Rohrer, Andre Russell, Gurinder Sandhu, Shane Watson.
Where to watch live:
The fifth game of the Big Bash League (BBL) 2015 between Melbourne Stars and Sydney Thunder is scheduled for a 7:30 pm local time (2 pm IST, 9:30 am BST and 8:30 am GMT) start. T20 fans in India can tune into Star Sports 1 and Star Sports HD 1. The live streaming option will be available on Starsports.com and Hotstar.com.
Viewers in UK can switch to Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports HD 1 to watch Melbourne Stars vs Sydney Thunder. The live stremaing option will be availabel of Watch Sky Sports.
Audience in Australia can tune into Fox Sports for the live action of the Big Bash League. Fans can also stream the BBL match between Melbourne Stars and Sydney Thunder on Tenplay, Bigbash.com.au and cricket.com.au.
