Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) who are currently placed third in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 table will take on the eighth placed Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on April 14 (Friday) at the iconic Eden Gardens. Both the teams have played three matches a piece with KKR having four points to their name and SRH reeling behind with just two points.
It was not an ideal start from KKR as they lost their first game against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in a rain affected match by just seven runs (DLS method). Since then KKR have changed their fate and won back-to-back games against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Gujarat Titans (GT).
Firstly, it was Shardul Thakur who took everybody by surprise as he thrashed RCB bowlers all around the park and scored a quickfire 68 off 29 balls. This innings helped KKR secure their first victory of this year’s IPL.
Then came the lefty from Aligarh, Rinku Singh who played an innings of a lifetime against defending champions GT. He smoked a young Yash Dayal for five sixes in the last over to register one of the greatest heist in T20 cricket history.
With Shardul and Rinku providing the option of a finisher, KKR would be eager to prove that these two victories were not a fluke. Both the wins came without any significant contribution from hard-hitting Andre Russell, but him returning to form would make KKR an even more dangerous side.
The hard-hitting Jamaican has not lived upto expectations so far in the IPL 2023 barring his 19-ball 35 in the season opener loss to PBKS. With the scores of 0 and 1 in the next two matches for Russell, he would be all charged-up to get back to his destructive self as he practiced range hitting ahead of the match on April 14.
KKR have tried different opening options in their three matches but it will probably change once again against their clash with SRH. Jason Roy, who recently joined the KKR squad will likely replace Afghan wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
The Afghanistan opener impressed with a fighting fifty against RCB but with Roy joining KKR as a replacement for Shakib Al Hasan, the right-handed batter will open the innings with Narayan Jagadeesan.
KKR probable playing XI: Jason Roy, Narayan Jagadeesan, Nitish Rana (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Lockie Ferguson and Varun Chakravarthy.
As for SRH, the Aiden Markram-led side has failed to impress in their first two matches but their fate changed in the previous encounter against Punjab (PBKS) where they managed to seal the deal with 17 balls to spare. Rahul Tripathi was the star of the match scoring 74 runs of 48 balls.
Tripathi will be up against his former side as his role in the team is of holding the innings together in the middle overs. He can rotate the strike and can play manipulate spinners which is his main strength.
SRH looked a strong side on paper after some big buys like Harry Brook, Mayank Agarwal and Heinrich Klaasen at the auction. Brook and Agarwal are yet to justify the hefty price tag whereas in-form Klaasen is waiting for a chance to prove himself.
Their bowling does not lack teeth with veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar leading the pace attack, Umran Malik bowling thunderboults and Marco Jansen troubling batters with swing and bounce early on. Mayank Markande justified his selection as well with a four-fer against PBKS to cause a batting collapse.
Probable playing XI: Harry Brook, Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, Washington Sundar, Marco Jansen, Mayank Markande, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umran Malik, T Natarajan.
Squads:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Nitish Rana (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, N. Jagadeesan, Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma, David Wiese, Kulwant Khejroliya, Litton Das, Mandeep Singh and Jason Roy.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Aiden Markram (c), Abdul Samad, Rahul Tripathi, Glenn Phillips, Abhishek Sharma, Marco Jansen, Washington Sundar, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kartik Tyagi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T. Natarajan, Umran Malik, Harry Brook, Mayank Agarwal, Heinrich Klaasen, Adil Rashid, Mayank Markande, Vivrant Sharma, Samarth Vyas, Sanvir Singh, Upendra Yadav, Mayank Dagar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Akeal Hosein and Anmolpreet Singh.
