The Kolkata Knight Riders are aiming for a hat-trick of victories as they face off against the Sunrisers Hyderabad at their home ground, Eden Gardens. Both teams boast of well-balanced bowling attacks, but Hyderabad is worried about their weak batting line-up consisting of Brooke, Agarwal, and Kalasen.
In their previous match, Kolkata Knight Riders had defeated Gujarat Titans, thanks to the explosive batting of Shardul Thakur and Rinku Singh. Thakur’s 68 runs in 29 balls and Singh’s five sixes in the last over helped Kolkata win by 81 runs. Kolkata needs the form of Nitish Rana and Andre Russell to return to score big and help them win.
Kolkata dropped their opening pair and there’s a possibility of England opener Jason Roy taking the position. If he does, Afghanistan opener Gurbazne will have to sit outside. Hyderabad is looking to gain confidence after losing their first two matches, with Punjab Kings defeating them in the third. They will look towards Rahul Tripathi’s match-winning performance to continue his form.
Kolkata’s key players include Nitish Rana (Captain), Gurbaz, Jason Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Narayan, Shardul Thakur, Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Saudi, Varun Chakraborty, Rinku Singh, Jagdishan, and Litton Das. Hyderabad’s key players include Markram (Captain), Samad, Rahul Tripathi, Philips, Abhishek Sharma, Jansen, Sundar, Farooqi, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Natarajan, Malik, Break, Mayank Agarwal, Kalasen, Adil Rashid, Marked, and Samarth Vyas.
Kolkata is looking to win their third consecutive match, but Hyderabad’s passion is high. With a weak batting line-up and concerns about their opening pair, Hyderabad needs to rely on their key players to score big and win the match. Winning requires teamwork, and both teams will have to work together to come out on top.
