(Cricket news) This season’s two of the most inconsistent team campaigns alive. KKR’s equation is simple, they need to win every game from now till the end of the season to stand a chance to make it to the playoffs. SRH also have just six points but they have played a game less. Both sides’ problems are somewhat similar as they have struggled with their opening combinations. KKR have tried six pairs so far while Sunrisers are trying to find the best position for Harry Brook while Abhishek Sharma has also been promoted up and down the order based on conditions and match-ups.
KKR would want an explosive start from their openers as Jason Roy who missed the Gujarat Titans game with a back niggle as his return could inject some positivity. Roy’s replacement Gurbaz was unbelievable against the Titans where he scored 81 at a strike rate of over 200. So in all possibilities, KKR will start with two overseas openers.
Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, and Nitish Rana have been scoring the majority of the runs but Andre Russell has shown only glimpses of the destructive best. Both sides have had a lot of injuries as Umesh Yadav will continue to sit out for KKR while Sunrisers haven’t replaced Washington Sundar. KKR on the other hand have called up West Indies’ Johnson Charles to replace Litton Das.
Sunrisers Hyderabad:
Sunrisers will likely continue with their winning combination as they will use T Natarajan as an additional seamer and swap him with Abdul Samad in the 2nd innings.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (probable XII): 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Aiden Markram (capt), 5 Harry Brook, 6 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 7 Abdul Samad, 8 Akeal Hosein, 9 Mayank Markande, 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Umran Malik, 12 T Natarajan
KKR:
Roy should make a comeback and open with Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who is likely to take over the wicket-keeping gloves of Jagadeesan. It will be interesting if they use Suyash Sharma as the impact player or get in an extra seamer.
Kolkata Knight Riders (probable XII): 1 Jason Roy, 2 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 3 N Jagadeesan/Mandeep Singh, 4 Venkatesh Iyer, 5 Nitish Rana, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Sunil Narine, 10 Harshit Rana, 11 Varun Chakravarthy, 12 Vaibhav Arora
Also read: Like a mathematician, Suryakumar Yadav analyses the cricket pitch: S Sreesanth
