Sunrisers Hyderabad have found their winning ways, a lot of credit goes to their intent which remained positive as they looked to score big runs in their previous match against Delhi Capitals.
What can be said about KKR! A team that has heavily depended on individual performers to win the game. So far, we haven’t seen the collective effort from them.
Hyderabad will definitely want to knock out KKR in a home game but everyone knows how tough this Kolkata side can be on its day. Looking around, they have quality players and once they get going, it becomes hard for any bowling line-up to come up against them.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored 37 balls 81 in absence of Jason Roy, is there a chance of him coming back into the side. Well, if he does the Gurbaz will feel wretched to be left out after performing so well against top bowling attack of Gujarat Titans.
Another problem for them have been the other opener, it appears that there is no contribution from Jagadeeshan. There is no doubt he is very talented guy but at this stage, he needs to start extremely well with the bat.
Despite having a good team, Kolkata is still short of a defining match winner who can play prolonged innings. There are hitters who can change the course of the game but still, someone who can bat sensibly and accelerate without losing wicket is missing from the team.
KKR has a phenomenal spin trio which can come handy on this ground. The trio has bowled 100 overs among them this season and has bagged 33 wickets in total. However, the team would like to see more from Sunil Narine.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Well, the motivation from an agonizing loss worked for Hyderabad. The won the match against Delhi despite losing wickets, it was all because of their positive intent. They will take on field with similiar kind of intent to score runs.
Heinrich Klaasen is such a difficult batter to bowl at, he is the guy who can score upto 60-70 runs in the last 5 overs. So the job for top order is easy and we haven’t seen best of Rahul Tripathi or Mayank Agrawal.
But sending Abhishek Sharma up to order has definitely strengthened their side. The difficulty of finding a place for Harry Brooks is quite visible now. He can’t bat at number 6 so that can be an opportunity for Glenn Phillips to rock back in the team.
What Does Stats Say and Pitch Report
Overall record wise, KKR seems to have the upper hand with 15 wins in 24 matches. Talking about last five matches, KKR are leading 3-2. This is different scenario though, KKR has relatively new side with number of key players missing the tournament.
KKR do have spinners but SRH have Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen, both are striking against spinners with 150. Don’t think that KKR spinners will have anything to bother the power hitters of SRH.
The pitch seems to be good for batting, with plenty of runs on offers. Anything around 190 is on card once again on this track.