There is no doubt about the fact that it is still early days in the Indian Premier League (IPL), there is no denying the fact that we have already witnessed some enthralling encounters. In today’s (Saturday) evening match we will witness Kolkata Knight Riders locking horns with the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Both had their bit of success in the tournament. While Kolkata started off with a victory against Royal Challengers Bangalore, the Chennai Super Kings brushed them aside courtesy a sensational performance from Sam Billings.
On the other hand, Hyderabad has won both their opening games against the Rajasthan Royals and the Mumbai Indians. Mumbai managed to stretch the previous match to the last ball, a match hosts should have completed earlier.
While both teams will be pretty happy with their batting performance, their main area of concern will be fielding.
Both teams had some difficult days on the field. While Hyderabad’s three dropped chances didn’t cost them the match, however, they will well aware of the fact that it won’t repeat every time.
For KKR two dropped chances have proven to be costly. Sam Billings was dropped on nine, on the other day and he went on to smash match-winning innings of 56 off 22 deliveries which helped CSK run away with the match.
Andre Russell was at his ominous best the other day against Chennai. The swashbuckling all-rounder smashed the Chennai bowlers all around Chepauk during a stunning display of batting.
He eventually remained unbeaten on 88 of 36 deliveries which were studded with a solitary four and as many as 11 sixes.
Riding on his innings, Kolkata posted a massive total of 202 on the board, in their allotted 20 overs.
Hyderabad will be pretty satisfied with the form of Shikhar Dhawan at the top of the order.
In the absence of their regular skipper David Warner, Dhawan needed to step up and take more responsibility opening the batting and he has done that with utmost grace so far.
In the first encounter, the southpaw remained unbeaten on 77. Even in the second match he smashed a half-century and was instrumental behind SRH’s victory.
Team Combinations –
Kolkata Knight Riders:
After a couple of horrendous day at the office for Vinay Kumar, the veteran cricketer might make way for a relatively inexperienced Shivam Mavi.
Kamlesh Nagarkoti, who was the other Under-19 star in the team has been ruled out of the remainder of the tournament owing to an injury.
The decision on whether to play Mitchell Johnson or Tom Curran also remains to be seen.
Predicted XI: Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (c & wk), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Mitchell Johnson/Tom Curran, Piyush Chawla, Shivam Mavi/R Vinay Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav
Sunrisers Hyderabad:
The only worry for Hyderabad has been Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s sore back which kept him out of the previous encounter.
If he returns he will definitely make a return at the expense of Sandeep Sharma.
The pacer has to make way despite an impressive spell of two for 25. The rest of the playing XI is expected to remain the same.
Match Prediction:
Both teams started off their campaign with a win. While Kolkata ended up losing the second encounter against Chennai, Hyderabad won a nail-biting thriller against the Mumbai Indians. The Orange Army clinched two out of two under their belt.
In addition, despite Hyderabad’s impressive showing so far, Kolkata Knight Riders might run away with the encounter.
Also, here’s the newsfeed:
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