May 21 (Punjab Khabarnama) : In many ways, Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad are similar in their approach. Both rely heavily on their openers – Phil Salt and Sunil Narine for KKR; Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma for SRH – to give them a flying start. Both have big hitters – Andre Russell, Rinku Singh in KKR; Heinrich Klaasen in SRH – at the backend who can build on that momentum to give a grand finish. The result? Towring scores. 250 has been breached a whopping eight times in this IPL and five times it has been due to SRH and KKR. The highest score of the tournament (287/3) belongs to SRH.
The only time these two sides met in this IPL, KKR pipped SRH by four runs in a match where more than 412 runs were scored. When these two sides meet in the Qualifier 1 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad for a spot in the final, expect nothing but fireworks.
One thing that KKR scores over SRH is their spin department. In Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy, they have easily got the best spin attack of the tournament (maybe RR will have something to say). Their pace attack is not bad by any means. Even though Mitchell Starc has not quite been at his best, young pacers Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora have been brilliant. Andre Russell has put his hand up whenever needed.
SRH, on the other hand, have a void in the spin department and rely mostly on Bhuvneshwar Kumar and captain Pat Cummins. That is where the Motera surface will be crucial. If it is a placid batting track, then a shootout between KKR and SRH hitters is likely, but if the surface sticks a bit, then KKR spinners will come into play.
While the two top teams from the 70-match league round have enjoyed some time off courtesy incessant rains during their respective clashes over last 10 days, the lack of turnaround time to compete in a high-intensity playoff game will also pose a unique challenge.
KKR and SRH will get only a day’s time to traverse thousands of kilometres and get here for the first half of the playoffs as they both featured on the final day of the league round on Sunday. SRH would feel they have hit their strides following a comprehensive win over PBKS and having also got recent game-time, which isn’t the case for KKR whose last complete game was on May 11.
Shreyas Iyer’s KKR had won four games on the trot before rains washed away their last two league games and the two-time winners. Table-toppers KKR (19 points) will also have to fill in the huge void at the top with their second-highest run-scorer and wicketkeeper Phil Salt (435 runs) leaving the camp for national duties with England ahead of the T20 World Cup.
Salt had forged a devastating partnership with Sunil Narine (461) at the top and KKR were immensely benefited by their ultra-aggressive approach with the bat, backed up well by a potent middle-order even though skipper Iyer (287) has not had a major impact yet.
Here’s all you need to know about KKR vs SRH clash:
- KKR’s Sunil Narine is four away from 100 sixes in IPL.
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar has fired the second-most yorkers (31) this season.
- Andre Russell has never picked up a wicket in Ahmedabad.
- KKR have defeated SRH 17 times while Hyderabad have recorded nine wins over Kolkata.
