Overview
The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 is heating up at both ends of the points table. When Sunrisers Hyderabad host Kolkata Knight Riders at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, with both teams on six points, one side will have the opportunity to lift themselves back into play-off contention while dealing a big blow to the other’s hopes.
In the reverse fixture, the Sunrisers won by 23 runs, one of their two wins from the first four matches. They registered their third victory in their last match in Delhi, after losing three in a row. Aiden Markram’s team will look to build on this momentum and rely on their foreign imports, including Heinrich Klaasen, who just scored his maiden IPL fifty, and Harry Brook, who scored a scintillating hundred in the reverse encounter. However, Hyderabad still seem imbalanced, and the loss of Washington Sundar to a season-ending injury does not help. They need Umran Malik and Abdul Samad to be more consistent and effective.
Kolkata Knight Riders are currently above the Sunrisers only because of a slightly better net run rate, but they are still one of the three laggards this season. Apart from the earlier defeat to Hyderabad, there have been five more losses, with a surprise win against Royal Challengers Bangalore being the exception. Jason Roy’s absence through injury in the last match was a blow, as he was the top scorer for the Knight Riders in the preceding three matches. His return could give them an edge at the top of the order, while all eyes will be on Suyash Sharma, the young leg-spinner, who has improved after being smashed for 44 runs off four overs in the earlier game between the two, picking up five wickets in the next four matches.
The key battle to watch is between Rahul Tripathi and Andre Russell. Tripathi has only crossed 15 once in his last five matches, but he should feel confident facing his old franchise, having scored his career-best 93 against Kolkata with a higher strike-rate than his career figure. However, Russell has taken Tripathi’s wicket in three of the five matches they’ve played against each other.
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Venue and time
Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad. 7:30 PM
Head-to-Head
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Hyderabad and Kolkata have played against each other 24 times, with Hyderabad winning on 9 occasions and Kolkata victorious 15 times.
Expected conditions and toss
It is expected to be slightly overcast with temperature hovering north of 30C. The average score is 196, and the team winning the toss should opt to chase.
Likely Playing XIs and Impact Players
Abdul Samad is expected to be the Impact Player for Hyderabad whereas Kolkata are likely to use Narayan Jagadeesan or Vaibhav Arora as the Impact Player.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Mayank Agarwal, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Harry Brook, Aiden Markram (C), Heinrich Klaasen (WK), Kartik Tyagi, Akeal Hosein, Mayank Markande, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Jason Roy, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (C), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur, Harshit Rana, Sunil Narine, Suyash Sharma, Varun Chakaravarthy.