Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad, who faced defeat in their first match, will try to get their campaign back on track in the Indian Premier League (IPL) match to be held here on Thursday. The batting of both these teams is very strong and in such a situation, good performance in bowling can prove to be decisive. KKR will be keen on the return of their spinners to form while Sunrisers will also have to improve their bowling department a lot. This match is also the beginning of an important phase at home for three-time champions KKR, who have to play three matches in seven days and then another match on April 19 in view of the upcoming assembly elections.
Due to the assembly elections, no matches will be played in Kolkata for about a month. After this, KKR has to play four matches at the home grounds of other teams. His next match at his home ground will be on 16th May and hence his team will leave no stone unturned to regain the momentum in this phase. Eden Gardens has been a stronghold for KKR, having won 54 of the 95 matches played here since 2008. KKR’s bowling attack has weakened due to some key bowlers being out due to injury. Harshit Rana and Akash Deep have been ruled out while Mathisha Pathirana is yet to receive the No Objection Certificate (NOC) from Sri Lanka Cricket. Apart from this, Cameron Green, bought for Rs 25.20 crore, is currently available only as a batsman.
The weakness of KKR’s bowling attack was clearly visible in the first match against Mumbai Indians where their team could not defend 220 runs. Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton made a partnership of 148 runs in just 72 balls. In this match, KKR’s main spinners Sunil Narayan and Varun Chakraborty had to struggle, which will be a matter of concern for their team. Green scored 18 runs on 10 balls in the first match. He did not bowl due to instructions from Cricket Australia’s bowling management.
Due to Green not bowling, KKR may think of including West Indies’ Rovman Powell in the playing eleven in his place. Powell scored 149 runs at a strike rate of 147.52 in the T20 World Cup. He had scored unbeaten 34 runs on 19 balls in the Super Eight match against India on the same ground. KKR is thinking of preparing a turning wicket for this match but even then a score of 200 will be considered average. KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane’s good start would have boosted his morale but his inability to perform well in the middle overs would be a matter of concern.
Against Mumbai Indians, Rahane scored 36 runs in 18 balls in the power play, but after that could only score 31 runs in the next 22 balls. This is not the first time because Rahane has been performing well in the power play since 2023 but after that his strike rate drops rapidly. Sunrisers are also in a similar situation, as they started their campaign with a loss to defending champions Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
The top order of Sunrisers includes strong batsmen like Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Travis Head. But in the absence of regular captain Pat Cummins, their bowling attack looks weak. Its bowlers were not able to defend 201 runs against RCB. Cummins has started bowling in the nets and he can join the team after a few weeks. In his absence, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jaydev Unadkat, Harshal Patel and Ishan Malinga will have to play their roles well.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Rinku Singh (vice-captain), Finn Allen, Tejashwi Dahiya, Manish Pandey, Rovman Powell, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh, Sarthak Ranjan, Tim Seifert, Rahul Tripathi, Daksh Kamra, Cameron Green, Sunil Narine, Rachin Ravindra, Varun Chakraborty, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Saurabh Dubey, Karthik Tyagi, Blessing Muzarabani, Navdeep Saini, Prashant Solanki and Umran Malik.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Ishan Kishan (captain), Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aniket Verma, R. Smaran, Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Kamindu Mendis, Harshal Patel, Brydon Carse, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Malinga, Zeeshan Ansari, Liam Livingstone, Shivam Mavi, Salil Arora, Shivang Kumar, Omkar Tarmale, Cranes Phuletra, Prafulla Hinge, Amit Kumar, Saqib Hussain, Jack Edwards and Pat Cummins.
The match will start at 7.30 pm.
