IPL 2020 - Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad Probable 11s, Abu Dhabi weather and pitch report

Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad will clash in the eighth match of IPL 2020 at the Sheikh Zayed stadium in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. Kolkata Knight Riders lost their opening game against Mumbai Indians by 49 runs at the same venue while Sunrisers Hyderabad suffered a 10-run loss against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Dubai. It will be a mouth-watering clash as both sides have some fantastic stars in the line-up. David Warner and Jonny Bairstow are considered one of the best opening pairs in the IPL while Kolkata Knight Riders have the destructive powers of Andre Russell as well as Sunil Narine.

Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad have played each other 17 times in the IPL, with Dinesh Karthik’s side having a 10-7 head-to-head advantage. However, David Warner’s side have won three out of the last five encounters against Kolkata Knight Riders. This will be a crucial contest for both sides as a loss could dent their momentum even further.

Sunrisers Hyderabad will be without the services of Mitchell Marsh for the whole tournament after he suffered an ankle injury. On the other hand, it will be interesting to see whether Pat Cummins plays in this match after the poor showing in the opening game against Mumbai Indians in Abu Dhabi. A Cummins vs Warner encounter could be a classic at the Sheikh Zayed stadium in Abu Dhabi.

Weather conditions

The weather in Abu Dhabi will be hot and dry. The maximum temperature will be 37 degrees while the minimum will be 28 degrees. The humidity level will be close to 60 percent and that means dew will play a big factor in the match.

Pitch Report

Abu Dhabi has seen scores in the range of 160 to 200 in the couple of IPL games that have been played. With the match being played on a different surface, the pitch will assist the spinners but there will be help for the pacers at the start. The lengths will be crucial in the Abu Dhabi wicket.

High scores

Mumbai Indians notched up 195/5 in the match against Kolkata Knight Riders in Abu Dhabi and that is the highest score of the tournament at the venue so far.

Probable 11s

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

Sunrisers Hyderabad - David Warner(c), Jonny Bairstow(w), Manish Pandey, Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Priyam Garg, Abhishek Sharma, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan