Hyderabad: A power-packed batting unit at their disposal, Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to continue their winning streak and climb up the ladder when they take on a resurgent Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Sunday, May 3.
SRH are on a five-match winning streak and are placed third in the IPL standings with 12 points from nine matches, which includes six wins and three defeats.
KKR, on the other hand, has been struggling all season under Ajinkya Rahane’s captaincy but has won its last two games. They are placed eighth in the 10-team tournament.
SRH boasts a strong batting line-up in the form of the tournament’s second- and third-highest run-scorers, Abhishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen.
In Ishan Kishan, SRH has an explosive batter who can change the complexion of the match in any given day and he has proved that this season.
Australian opener Travis Head also got back among runs with 76 against the Mumbai Indians in SRH’s last match while chasing an imposing 243 for 5 with six wickets in hand in 18.4 overs.
Nitish Kumar Reddy and Salil Arora have also risen to the occasion with the bat for SRH when called for.
KKR to boost their bowling department to battle SRH’s batting unit
Considering the firepower of SRH’s batting unit, KKR’s bowling department will have to raise its standards by leaps and bounds to contain their opponents.
On the bowling front, SRH have been boosted by the return of their skipper Pat Cummins.
Besides Cummins, Praful Hinge, Eshan Malinga, Reddy and Sakib Hussain have been playing their part.
SRH would also be high on confidence, having defeated KKR by 65 runs at the Eden Gardens in the first leg.
It promises to be an exciting contest as KKR are on a comeback trail with consecutive wins after five losses and one washed out match.
KKR’s bold decision to continue with Rahane as the captain after a woeful IPL 2025 campaign has been the talk of the town as the right-hander has so far failed to inspire his side.
Rahane has shown a transformative approach with flashes of positive intent — a 67 off 40 against the Mumbai Indians and a brisk 41 off 24 against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)– but his leadership and on-field decisions have been questionable.
It needs to be seen whether KKR finally includes Rachin Ravindra in the scheme of things, as he has been warming the bench.
Finn Allen and Tim Seifert have also failed to live up to the expectations, while the likes of Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Cameron Green, and Rovman Powell are yet to fire.
KKR haven’t been helped by a depleted pace attack and a quiet start from spin spearhead Varun Chakravarthy.
The former champions are mainly reliant on domestic players like Anukul Roit, Vaibhav Arora and Kartik Tyagi.
Teams
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins (c), Salil Arora (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Travis Head, Ravichandran Ashwin, Aniket Verma, Abhishek Sharma, Harsh Dubey, Krains Fuletra, Liam Livingstone, Kamindu Mendis, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshal Patel, Shivam Mavi, Shivang Kumar, Amit Kumar, Gerald Coetzee, Praful Hinge, Sakib Hussain, Dilshan Madushanka, Eshan Malinga, Onkar Tarnale, Jaydev Unadkat, Zeeshan Ansari.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Manish Pandey, Rovman Powell, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Umran Malik, Varun Chakaravarthy, Cameron Green, Matheesha Pathirana, Rahul Tripathi, Tim Seifert, Tejasvi Dahiya, Rachin Ravindra, Akash Deep, Blessing Muzarabani, Navdeep Saini, Prashant Solanki, Finn Allen, Daksh Kamra, Kartik Tyagi, Sarthak Ranjan, Saurabh Dubey.
Match starts at 3:30PM IST.
