After a thrilling contest in the IPL 14 opener between Mumbai and Bangalore, IPL 14 is all set to entertain the cricket audience for the next two months.
As per the available IPL Schedule, this Sunday on April 11, Sunrisers Hyderabad will open up against Kolkata Knight Riders
Match 3: KKR vs SRH Preview
KKR won their first IPL Trophy in 2014 under the captaincy of Gautam Gambhir. However, ever since then they have missed the opportunity multiple times.
In fact, from the last two years, they even failed to get into the playoffs.
Unlike last year, ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP 2019 winning captain Eoin Morgan will handle the captaincy of KKR right from the start.
This year in the auction, KKR did a clever job by adding Bangladeshi all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan to their squad. He can be the X-FACTOR in Kolkata’s IPL 14 campaign.
On the other hand, one of the most consistent sides of IPL, Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to move on from the last year’s upset in the Playoffs.
Last year in between the league rounds, Hyderabad’s main bowler Bhubaneshwar Kumar got injured and because of the seriousness of the injury, he had to miss the rest of the tournament.
Now after his impressive comeback in India vs. England series, he will be looking to make a memorable IPL comeback.
KKR vs SRH Playing 11 Prediction
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS PLAYING XI
At the top, Shubman Gill and Karun Nair will open the innings.
Last year KKR had some problems at the top order.
I believe with the addition of Karun Nair to the team and they’ll start getting a good result from the top order
Middle-Order
In the middle order, KKR will play these 3 batsmen:
✅Nitish Rana at 3rd
✅Captain Eoin Morgan at 4th
✅Dinesh Kartik at 5th
KKR All-Rounders
KKR might get some problem in choosing which all-rounders to pick in the playing 11 as they have players like Shakib Al Hasan, Ben cutting, and Pawan Negi in the squad.
But I believe, we’ll see:
✅Andre Russell at 6th.
✅Shakib Al Hasan at 7th
✅Pat Cummins at 8th
KKR Bowlers
Here, Harbhajan Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarti, will definitely make it to the 9th, 10th, and 11th positions in the match.
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD PLAYING XI
Top Order
This year Hyderabad has the three best options at the top order.
✅David Warner
✅Jonny Bairstow and,
✅Jason Roy
Here, once again, you can see David Warner & Johny Bairstow open the innings for SRH whereas, Jason Roy might sit this one out because of a maximum of 4 foreign player restrictions in a match.
Middle Order
Just like the previous year,
✅Manish Pandey
✅Kane Williamson
✅Kedhar Jadav
will Bat at the 3rd 4th and 5th position respectively.
SRH All-Rounders
After the middle order,
✅Rashid Khan
✅Vijay Shankar
✅Priyam Garg
will be playing at 6th, 7th, and 8th position
SRH Bowlers
This year at ninth position Bhubaneswar Kumar will be making his IPL comeback for Sunrisers Hyderabad then Sandeep Sharma and T. Natrajan will play at 10th and 11th Position.
KKR vs SRH Match Details
MATCH VENUE
M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
MATCH START TIME
The match will start at 7:30 P.M. IST and you can start watching it on STAR SPORTS, HOTSTAR APP, and JIO TV.
PITCH REPORT
The IPL 14 opening encounter between RCB and Mumbai too happened in Chennai’s M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.
It will not be complete batting or bowling-friendly wicket.
New batsmen might take some time to adjust and as the wicket slows down, they might get difficulty in hit shots outside the boundary.
But if played with the right approach, anyone can go for quick 4’s and 6’s just like AB De Villiers and Glenn Maxwell.
Related Article: IPL Schedule 2021: venues, dates, timings- All you need to know
Final Thoughts
Just like the opening encounter, I will expect nothing less.
I’m hoping the match will be a close one & will go to the last ball of the match.
In The Opening match, Harshal Patel took everyone by surprise & clinched 5 wickets to get the Man of the Match award.
In this match, I am expecting Bhubaneswar Kumar to make a mark in his IPL comeback. match. That’s all for now. What do you think which team will win the match?
Kolkata Knight Riders or Sunrisers Hyderabad?
Do share your thoughts in the comments section given below.
