Match 68 brings us a clash between the two finalists from last season and having undergone a disappointing campaign both will be looking to end their season on a high as Ajinkya Rahane’s Kolkata Knight Riders take the field one last time against Pat Cummins’ Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on 25th May.
It has been a topsy turvy campaign for the defending champions, while winning their two washed out games would have still kept them in the hunt but neither the players nor the management can complain much about where they currently find themselves in the league table.
KKR have had one of the worst opening partnerships this season with none of their overseas prospects grabbing their opportunities with both hands. Much like their poor showing at the top of the order, the middle order also hasn’t contributed much with both Venkatesh Iyer and Rinku Singh having underperformed this season. The only bright spark for them in the batting department has been the form of skipper Ajinkya Rahane (375 runs) and youngster Angkrish Raghuvanshi (286 runs), while their Caribbean superstar Andre Russell has also found some form with the bat of late.
Despite the batters’ struggles, their bowlers have done pretty well – especially the Indian trio of Varun Chakravarthy (17 wickets), Vaibhav Arora (16 wickets) and Harshit Rana (15 wickets). Sunil Narine (10 wickets) has been economical despite not picking up enough wickets, however, it is their fifth bowling option that has handicapped them at times. The likes of Spencer Johnson (1 wkt in 4 matches) and Anrich Nortje (1 wkt in 1 match) have failed to deliver this season meaning the onus will be on the shoulders of Andre Russell and Moeen Ali to contribute both with bat and ball.
Pat Cummins’ Sunrisers on the other side have shown resilience and courage both with the bat and the ball in their last couple of games. The likes of Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan and co. have started to find their groove while skipper Cummins, Harshal Patel and Ehsan Malinga have found good rhythm with the ball in hand.
Travis Head returned to the playing XI against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru after missing their previous game against the Lucknow Super Giants due to Covid-19. Although he showed signs of promise he perished after scoring a blitz 10-ball 17. While almost everyone in the top five contributed it was Ishan Kishan’s (94* off 48) unbeaten knock that propelled the Sunrisers to a score well above par against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Match 65.
With the ball, both Cummins (3-28) and Malinga (2-37) were excellent in restricting the RCB batters towards the death overs while the inclusion of Jaydev Unadkat in place of Mohammed Shami indicated that the management is looking beyond the 34-year-old ahead of next season.
Looking ahead to this fixture, the Sunrisers are currently on a roll despite sitting in eighth place, however, a win against the Knight Riders on Sunday – a team that hasn’t played a game in almost three weeks – will propel them ahead of KKR in sixth. Thus, we’re backing the Sunrisers to end their season on a high in Match 68 of IPL 2025.
Fantasy XI: Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klassen, Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sunil Narine, Abhishek Sharma (c), Andre Russell, Harshal Patel (vc), Pat Cummins, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy
Venue: Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi
Winner’s Prediction: Sunrisers Hyderabad
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