Dinesh Karthik and Co. will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Sheikh Zayed stadium in Abu Dhabi, which will mark the 8th match of the Indian Premier League 2020. Both the teams come into the match after losing their first match. While KKR were demolished by Mumbai Indians by 49 runs. SRH on the other side fell 10 runs short of the 163 scored by Royal Challengers Bangalore.
SRH did well to restrict the RCB side for 163 as they threatened to cross 180 at one stage of the game. Lot depended on the opening pair for the SRH, but the out of form David Warner was dismissed cheaply for 6. Jonny Bairstow along with Manish Pandey almost threatened to take the game away from RCB. But the shaky middle order of SRH meant that RCB eventually won the battle.
KKR looked helpless against the defending champions as Rohit Sharma played a brilliant knock to take MI to a winning total of 195. KKR’s bowling fell apart when the most expensive foreign player in the tournament Pat Cummins was punished by MI as he hit for 49 runs in his 3 overs. With all their star players failing to get going with the bat, the captain did look in good touch. But, given that wickets kept falling at regular intervals, it was too much to ask from the wicket-keeper batsman.
With both the teams losing their first match, The teams will be looking forward to getting a win under their belt and get the much needed momentum going into the tournament.
Head to Head
Matches Played- 17, Kolkata Knight Riders- 10, SRH- 7, N/R- 0
Team News
Kolkata Knight Riders have not reported any injuries in the team and are likely to play the same Xl. The KKR camp will be hoping their key players strike this time as most of them failed to even get a start in the first match.
Sunrisers Hyderabad have various issues to address. As their key players Kane Willamson and Mitchell Marsh are out owing to injuries. Adding to that, their middle-order was seen to be very unstable in the last match. With Marsh out, Afghanistan star Mohammad Nabi could feature in playing Xl, as he is one of the best spinners and also can hit the ball a long way.
Pitch and Conditions
As seen in the last matches, the pitch seems to be batsman friendly, at least for the first few overs. The groundmen were sure to leave some grass behind as to make sure the ball comes on to the bat well. Given the presence of grass the pacers could also get some material of the pitch.
The conditions are no different as the country is experiencing the peak of their summer. Both the temperature and humidity are expected to be on the higher side, with max. Temperature to reach 35 degrees and humidity around 66% mark.
As seen in this edition, the due has been a major factor in all the venues. For that reason, once again we can expect the toss winning team to bat second.
Probable Playing Xl
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) - Sunil Narine, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik(c & wk), Nikhil Naik, Pat Cummins, Kuldeep Yadav, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) - David Warner (c), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Manish Pandey, Priyam Garg, Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan
Key Battles
David Warner (SRH) vs Shivam Mavi (KKR)
The Australian seems to be out of touch from the last few months and it was evident as he again was seen struggling against RCB to get going. But, it is just a matter of time the hard-hitter turns the table in his favor. Given his caliber he is one of the few players who can win matches single-handedly. KKR on the other side will be hoping the left-hander’s poor form continues.
Shivam Mavi showed very good maturity coming into this season as he picked up two crucial wickets and looked in very good shape. The youngster is someone who loves taking up challenging and very handy bowler when there is bounce in offer by the pitch. He can definitely trouble the out of form Warner if he continues the way he played in the match against MI.
Can the Australian break the shackles? Or will the youngster prove utilize the opportunity?
Jonny Bairstow(SRH) vs Sunil Narine(KKR)
The English opener is in the form of his life and it has been really difficult to stop him ever since the ODI series against Australia. He was seen in great touch against RCB and will continue to his prime form. It will definitely require something special by the KKR to dismiss the 30-year old.
Sunil Narine is one of the players who could produce the magic delivery to dismiss the inform opener. Given his ability to bowl dot balls and put the batsman under pressure. It should not be a surprise to see the West Indian claim the wicket.
Will the West Indian be able to stop the rampage of Bairstow? Or will the prime form continue?
Prediction
SRH do have a very strong line-up and also one of the most well balanced teams in the tournament. But the injury of Kane Williamson and Mitchell Marsh has been an issue for the 2016 title winners. The other major concern would be of the wobbly middle-order of SRH. The injury of Marsh means Mohammad Nabi is likely to feature in the playing Xl and that will definitely boost the middle-order of the SRH.
Kolkata Knight Riders would be hoping their star players Andre Russell and Eoin Morgan strike in this match so as to open their account in the IPL 2020. Both teams have world-class all rounders and it is very difficult to separate them on the sheets.
KKR have a better winning ratio, winning 10 matches out of 17 played. Given that SRH have a well balanced team and KKR’s bowling has not been up to the mark with their most expensive player Pat Cummins failing in the first match. SRH definitely have a slight edge going into the match.
Cricwizz predicts Sunrisers Hyderabad to win the match.
