Preview

Last season’s finalists, Sunrisers Hyderabad are set to be hosted by the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens. The home side have been hit by injuries to key local pacers and that seems a big blow with regard to their team composition. They’ll have to play the extra spinner in Piyush Chawla, given that there is only the uncapped Yarra Prithviraj as the other pace option.

Also, not playing Chawla means that the batting effectively ends at number seven with four potential tailenders thereafter, although Kuldeep Yadav can hang around but he certainly doesn’t have the big hits in him. The top seven pick themselves and it’s the batting that looks to be KKR’s strength, thereby making them a strong chasing side. No prizes for guessing what they would opt for at Eden.

Sunrisers have a strong bowling attack that remains untouched with the only conundrum for them regarding the second spinner’s spot. Shahbaz Nadeem is a readymade option if they decide to field an overseas top order but otherwise, Shakib is another world class option. For both the choices, the team combination will be altered accordingly.

Considering the potency of their domestic bowlers, SRH will be will served by opting for the trio of Warner-Bairstow-Williamson at the top and can also push Rashid upto number seven to tap his increasingly effective batting skills. Bowling is what SRH has depended on to win games but the kind of squad they have this year, the tourists can fancy their chances in high scoring games too.

Eventually, it’s about KKR’s powerhitting against SRH’s efficient bowling that will be pivotal to the result. And yes, if Warner’s men opt for a foreign top three, that’ll be a combination to watch out for in the coming weeks in terms of thrills and entertainment. Promises to be a really close encounter.

Probable Playing XIs 

Kolkata Knight Riders: C Lynn, S Narine, R Uthappa, S Gill, N Rana, D Karthik, A Russell, P Chawla K Yadav, P Krishna, L Ferguson/H Gurney

Sunrisers Hyderabad: D Warner, J Bairstow, W Saha, M Pandey, V Shankar, Y Pathan, R Khan, B Kumar, S Nadeem, S Kaul, S Sharma

Prediction
Statistically, KKR have been strong at Eden and the story while playing SRH is the same too. However, the 2016 IPL champions did win both their games at the venue last year and with Warner back, they really do look strong. The odds seem 55-45 in favor of SRH and as the margin suggests, this is a game that could go either way but the balance seems better for the visitors, just.