IPL 2020 - After opening losses, KKR and SRH eye redemption
Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad lost their opening games in IPL 2020 and they will be determined to get their campaign back on track.
Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad are the only teams who have not scored a point in the IPL 2020 so far. Kolkata Knight Riders lost their opening game to Mumbai Indians by 49 runs while Sunrisers Hyderabad suffered a rude jolt when they lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore by 10 runs. Now, it boils down to the clash between these two sides that have developed a pendulum-like rivalry in the Indian Premier League. No team has established a consistent winning pattern against the other for the last two IPL editions. The overall head-to-head might read 10-7 in favour of Kolkata Knight Riders, but Sunrisers Hyderabad have won three out of the last five encounters.
Both sides have plenty of issues related to rustiness. David Warner, the Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper who was their talisman last year, has struggled for form ever since England. Jonny Bairstow is the only player currently who is looking like the best from teams. Even Kolkata Knight Riders have issues, with Pat Cummins and Eoin Morgan’s rhythm disrupted by the additional six-day quarantine in Abu Dhabi.
For Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mitchell Marsh is out of the tournament due to an ankle injury and Jason Holder has been named as the replacement. It will be interesting to see how both teams cope up and how they will formulate their playing 11s for this match. This will be the second game for Kolkata Knight Riders in Abu Dhabi while Sunrisers Hyderabad will arrive for the first time here. The conditions have assisted the spinners here although pacer Shivam Mavi was at his explosive best in the opening spell.
Team News
Sunrisers Hyderabad have lost Mitchell Marsh for the whole tournament and this gives them a chance to get Mohammad Nabi in the playing 11 along with Rashid Khan. Nabi will give the team the power-hitting as well as steady offspin. Kolkata Knight Riders might be tempted to rest Pat Cummins but with such a high price tag and with the tournament still a long way to go, they might not want to make any changes.
Probable Playing 11s
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner(c), Jonny Bairstow(w), Manish Pandey, Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Priyam Garg, Abhishek Sharma, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul
Kolkata Knight Riders: Sunil Narine, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik(w/c), Nikhil Naik, Pat Cummins, Kuldeep Yadav, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi
Match details
Match: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (KKR vs SRH)
Date and Time: 26th September, 7:30 PM IST
Venue: Sheikh Zayed stadium, Abu Dhabi.
Statistics
Kolkata Knight Riders hold a 10-7 head-to-head advantage against Sunrisers Hyderabad but David Warner’s team have won three out of the last five encounters.