Sunrisers Hyderabad take on Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL Eliminator, winner to meet Mumbai Indians in qualifier 2.
In the second eliminator of this season’s IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders will square-off against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The momentum will surely be with SRH as they pulled up their socks towards the end of the tournament while KKR lost four out of seven matches in the latter half of the season.
Both sides have their bowling unit well settled and the spin looks extremely strong. For SRH, Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi will hold key. While for KKR, Kuldeep Yadav and Sunil Narine will hold key.
The defending IPL champions certainly have a lot of things going in their favor as they get ready to take on KKR. They have won their last two matches, have the Orange and Purple cap holders in David Warner and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in their side, boast of an in-form batting and bowling line-up. With plenty of things in their favor, SRH will want to capitalize and not be complacent as they take on Gautam Gambhir’s side.
Which team do you think will advance to the Qualifier 2 after tonight's game at the Chinnaswamy Stadium #IPL
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Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers need to step in to give support to the batting line up. The Hyderabad batsmen have scored runs but the bowlers too have given away runs at a high economy rate. Loose bowling from Sunrisers bowlers, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Bipul Sharma will be a worry for the team.
For KKR the new ball bowlers need to keep the run rate in check as they have failed to do so in quite a few matches. Being an eliminator, the bowlers cannot afford any slip-ups.
Kolkata’s opening axis, Chris Lynn and Narine, is thriving in attack, attack, attack… When they get going from both ends, things become breathtaking. Rewind to the Kolkata versus Bangalore game at Chinnaswamy and feel the force of their hitting powers. Narine had romped to his half-century in 15 balls; Lynn took just 21 deliveries to get there.
David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan and Rashid Khan are the players for Sunrisers Hyderabad who would be kept under close observation while for Kolkata Knight Riders, Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa’s batting partnership is going to be worth watching.
Hyderabad coach Tom Moody has revealed that Ashish Nehra is ruled out of the remainder of the IPL due to a hamstring strain, while Yuvraj Singh is recovering from a finger injury and will undergo a fitness test ahead of the Eliminator. Vijay Shankar scored an unbeaten 63 in the last match, coming at No. 4. So the team has a backup option.
Predicted winner: Sunrisers Hyderabad
The winner of this match will take on Mumbai Indians in the second qualifier at the same venue on Friday, with the winner of that virtual semi-final going through to face Rising Pune Supergiant in the final at Hyderabad.
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