Series: Indian Premier League, 2016 Venue: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad Date & Time: Apr 16, 04:00 PM LOCAL
Chance for Sunrisers to register season’s first win
Sunrisers Hyderabad players during a practice session in Hyderabad.
A victory against KKR, at the Rajiv Gandhi International cricket stadium, will go a long way in bringing Sunrisers’ campaign back on track.
Eyeing their first win of the season, Sunrisers
Hyderabad would be looking to put up an improved show in their home
ground where they lock horns with Kolkata Knight Riders, who would also
be keen to get back to winning ways in the Indian Premier League in
Hyderabad on Saturday.
Sunrisers suffered a 45-run
loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore in their opening game with RCB’s
Virat Kohli, A B de Villiers and Shane Watson having a blast with the
bat against the hapless Hyderabad bowlers.
A victory
against KKR, at the Rajiv Gandhi International cricket stadium, will go a
long way in bringing Sunrisers’ campaign back on track.
Two-time title winners KKR also lost their last match, having started the tournament with a victory.
SRH
could not make it to the final four last year and the task that awaits
them is again easier said than done as KKR, champions in 2012 and 2014,
are one of the strongest outfits in the tournament.
Though they suffered a reverse against Mumbai Indians, KKR were at its dazzling best against Delhi Daredevils.
The
Knight Riders will definitely get a boost if they include mystery
spinner Sunil Narine in the playing XI, who was rested in the last game
after making the long journey back after attending his father’s funeral.
Narine would make a handy combination with the chinaman bowler Brad Hogg.
Even in the absence of Narine, Hogg and Andre Russel restricted Delhi Daredevils to a sub-100 total with their canny bowling.
The
Shahrukh Khan-owned outfit has some classy batsmen in its ranks as
well, including Robin Uthappa, skipper Gautam Gambhir, Russel and Manish
Pandey.
The Sunrisers too boasts of a strong line-up
and potential match winners in captain David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan,
Moises Henriques, Kane Williamson and Yuvraj Singh.
It
remains to be seen whether Yuvraj, who sustained an injury during the
recent World T20, would be available for tomorrow’s match.
The
form of some of the top-order batsmen, including Dhawan and Williamson,
has been a matter of concern and they would look to come out all guns
blazing.
Sunrisers has some seasoned and also
promising young players, including Ashish Nehra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Karn
Sharma and new acquisition Mustafizur Rahman, in the bowling
department.
Observing that the team has got abundant
talent, SRH mentor VVS Laxman has recently said they should make it to
the top of the tournament if they play to its potential.
“We
got abundance of potential and talent in this team and if we play to
our potential, we will achieve our goal which is to win the IPL,” Laxman
said.
As the match is scheduled to start in the
afternoon, the players would have to bear the scorching heat prevailing
in the city with temperatures hovering around 40 degrees celsius.
Teams (from):
Kolkata Knight Riders:
Gautham Gambhir (capt), Piyush Chawla, John Hastings, Brad Hogg, Jason
Holder, Sheldon Jackson, Kuldeep Yadav, Chris Lynn, Manan Sharma, Morne
Morkel, Colin Munro, Sunil Narine, Manish Pandey, Yusaf Pathan, Ankit
Rajput, Andre Russell, Rajgopal Satish, Shakib Al Hasan, Jaydev Unadkat,
Robin Uthappa, Suryakumar Yadav and Umesh Yadav.
Sunrisers Hyderabad:
David Warner (capt), Ashish Reddy, Ricky Bhui, Bipul Sharma, Trent
Boult, Ben Cutting, Shikar Dhawan, Moises Henriques, Deepak Hooda,
Siddarth Kaul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Abhimanyu Midtun, Eoin Morgan,
Mustafizur Rahman, Ashish Mehra, Naman Ojha, Vijay Shanker, Karn Sharma,
Barinder Sran, T Suman, Aditya Tare, Kane Williamson and Yuvraj Singh.
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