Winning the toss and chasing has been the mantra so far in all five matches of the season. Will the trend continue, or will it break today at Eden Gardens on April 2 in a high-voltage clash between KKR and SRH?
For SRH, they have to figure out their best bowling combination after failing to defend 201 in the first match against RCB. They will also look at N. K. Reddy and how he bounces back after a lean patch. Klaasen and Ishan’s form is a positive sign, and their top order is expected to enjoy the flat wicket in Kolkata.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (Probable XI): Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (w/c), Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Salil Arora, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga
Sunrisers Hyderabad Impact subs: Shivang Kumar, Liam Livingstone, David Payne, Smaran Ravichandran, Sakib Hussain
Injured/Not Available Players: Pat Cummins will miss the starting few games, while Jack Edward was ruled out of the entire tournament.
Watch Live Streaming: Fans can watch the KKR vs SRH match live on the app and website of JioHotstar.
Toss Time: 7:00 PM
Head to Head: SRH and KKR have faced each other in 30 IPL matches. Out of these, SRH have won 10, while KKR have come out victorious on 20 occasions. The last time they met at Eden Gardens, SRH were bowled out for 120 and lost the match by 80 runs, with Vaibhav Arora taking three wickets.
Pitch report: Small boundaries, quick outfield, and flat pitch make batting easier; teams batting first will target totals above 200.
For KKR, they also failed to defend 220 against MI. The form of the spin duo, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy, is a concern. Green was seen in the nets a day ago, and it remains to be seen whether he bowls in the match. It is a high-scoring venue at Eden Gardens, so more fireworks are expected.
Kolkata Knight Riders (Probable XI): Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (w), Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Blessing Muzarabani
Kolkata Knight Riders Impact subs: Manish Pandey, Rovman Powell, Kartik Tyagi, Saurabh Dubey, Tejasvi Dahiya
Injured/Not Available Players: Harshit Rana and Akash Deep have already been ruled out, and Matheesha Pathirana is still unavailable for a few games as his NOC has not been granted by the Sri Lanka Cricket Board.
Both teams come into this match after failing to defend 200-plus totals. Bowling remains a concern for KKR, with some key bowlers unavailable and questions over their spin pair’s form. For SRH, the focus is on finding bowlers who can deliver in crunch situations, especially in the absence of Cummins. There is plenty to watch in today’s match for both sides.