Introduction-
Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad will walk out to face each other in Match 47 of IPL 2023. Both teams have had somewhat identical run in the tournament so far, and a loss here, especially for KKR, may dent their hopes of play-offs badly. In the previous meeting between two sides, at Kolkata, SRH was able to get past their opponents in a high scoring affair. What will happen this time around, will be a thing to watch. Here is the match preview.
Team Previews-
Kolkata Knight Riders-
Apart from owning Royal Challengers Bangalore, both home & away, and that Rinku Singh heist against Gujarat Titans, the KKR have nothing to cherish about this season so far. Their batting has not been up to the mark, especially in power play. In 8 matches out of 9 played so far, they have lost at-least two wickets in the power play. Five times, they have scored runs at less than 8 RPO in the first six overs.
Rinku Singh, who has batted at 5 or below for them, is the second highest run getter for them behind Venkatesh Iyer. The very stat is enough to say how KKR batsmen have performed. Constant changes in the batting lineup, especially at the top, have not helped the cause either, as KKR has reached a situation when every match is do or die for them, as far as qualification to the next round is concerned.
Like batting, except for Varun Chakravarthy, none of the bowlers have shown any kind of consistency. Though young Suyash Sharma has impressed on a few occasions, it has proved to be not enough. Sunil Narine started well in the tournament, as he picked 6 wickets in first three matches, but seemed to lose all his touch after that. In the next 6 matches, he has taken only one wicket, while conceding runs at around 10 in an over.
In the absence of Jason Roy, Rahmanullah Gurbaz didn’t leave any stone unturned as he amassed 81 runs against Gujarat Titans. If Roy is fit to play, then Weise is more likely to make way for him, than Gurbaz. Jagadessan has been mostly off color, and may be replaced by any Indian player.
Sunrisers Hyderabad-
Prior to the start of the season, SRH was tagged as one of the most balanced sides, due to having a good bunch of Indian players in both departments. But as it turned out, they are sprawling at number 9 in the points table, only ahead of Delhi Capitals on the basis of better run rate.
None of their batsmen is in the list of top 15 run getters this season so far, and only Mayank Markande, among bowlers, is at number 14 in the list of most wicket takers. Above mentioned statistics is the testimony of SRH failing big time in both aspects of the game.
The time has still not run out for them, as every team, apart from GT, have lost at-least 4 matches, in comparison to SRH’s five defeats. A couple of wins can bring them back in the competition for play offs.
Mayank Agarwal and Rahul Tripathi need to live up to the expectations. Same goes for Harry Brook, who, apart from that scintillating century against KKR, has been unavailing.
Experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar has conceded runs at low rate, but failed to pick as many wickets as SRH would have hoped. T Natarajan has failed at both, conceding runs at high rate with not much to show in the wicket’s column.
SRH is likely to maintain the combination from the previous match even if they had lost the match. In case of a change, Marco Jensen can come in for Akeal Hosein.
Expected Playing XIs-
Kolkata Knight Riders-
Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Jason Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Shardul Thakur, Harshit Rana/Suyash Sharma, Varun Chakravarti
(Impact subs- Mandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana/Suyash Sharma)
Sunrisers Hyderabad-
Mayank Agarwal, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markaram, Harry Brook, Heinrich Klassen, Abdul Samad, Mayank Markande, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Akeal Hosein/Marco Jensen, Umran Malik/T Natarajan
(Impact subs- Mayank Dagar, Vivrant Sharma)
Pitch and Weather Report-
The Pitch the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium has shown dual behavior so far. 200+ has been scored once, while 144 has been defended successfully. Out of 4 matches so far, the team batting first has been victorious on three occasions. The temperature will roam between 26 and 30 degree celsius during the match time, and the match is likely to remain unaffected due to rain.
Venue- Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad
Date & Time- 04 May, 2023, 7:30 PM Onwards
Live Streaming- Star Sports Network and Jio Cinema
Dream XI Team-