Match details
Match: Kolkata Knight Riders vs SunRisers Hyderabad, Match 61, Saturday, 14 May 2022
Venue: Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune
Time: 7:30 pm (IST)
Where to watch: Star Sports Network | Disney+ Hotstar
Also Read
IPL 2022: SunRisers Hyderabad SWOT Analysis
IPL 2022: Kolkata Knight Riders SWOT Analysis
Preview
Match 61 of the 2022 TATA Indian Premier League brings us live action from the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune for the clash between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the SunRisers Hyderabad.
While the Shreyas Iyer-led Kolkata Knight Riders are coming into this game off the back of a cruising victory over the Mumbai Indians, the SunRisers Hyderabad are coming into this game off the back of an extremely disappointing defeat.
The KKR currently lie seventh in the table having played twelve games with five wins and seven defeats. Their openers did an excellent job in giving the team a stable start in the last game, and Rinku Singh at the end took them to a good score of 165, which the Mumbai Indians failed to chase down and got bowled out for 113.
The SunRisers Hyderabad, on the other hand, who lie sixth in the table, were at the receiving end of a disappointing defeat against the Royal Challengers Bangalore where they lost by 67 runs while chasing a total of 192.
Pitch report
The previous match held here between the Lucknow Super Giants and the Gujarat Titans was a low-scoring game, which suggests that, since we are approaching the end of the tournament, the pitches have turned slow. The team winning the toss will be looking to bat first.
Probable playing XIs
Kolkata Knight Riders
Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Sunil Narine, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sheldon Jackson (wk), Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy
Bench: Mohammad Nabi, Chamika Karunaratne, Pratham Singh, Abhijeet Tomar, Aman Hakim Khan, Ashok Sharma, Ramesh Kumar, Harshit Rana, Shivam Mavi, Aaron Finch, Baba Indrajith, Ankul Roy
SunRisers Hyderabad
Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Kane Williamson (c), Nicholas Pooran (wk), Aiden Markram, Shashank Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jagadeesha Suchith, T Natarajan, Umran Malik, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Bench: Abdul Samad, Romario Shepherd, Ravikumar Samarth, Vishnu Vinod, Priyam Garg, Saurabh Dubey, Sean Abbott, Glenn Philliips, Marco Jansen, Shreyas Gopal
Head-to-head
Matches played: 22 | Kolkata Knight Riders: 14 | SunRisers Hyderabad: 8
Last five matches: Kolkata Knight Riders: 5 | SunRisers Hyderabad: 0
Batter to watch out for: Venkatesh Iyer
Venkatesh Iyer has been trying to get his form back throughout the tournament. We could see glimpses of his talent in the previous game, where he scored a quick-fire 43 off 24 balls to give Kolkata a good start. He will be looking to gain motivation from his previous innings and score big against the SunRisers Hyderabad.
Bowler to watch out for: Umran Malik
Umran Malik, the fast-bowling sensation of the tournament, under the guidance of bowling coach Dale Steyn, has been performing extremely well in the season. He will be looking to make his mark again in this fixture.
Fantasy XI
Abhishek Sharma, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Shreyas Iyer (c), Jagadeesha Suchith, Rinku Singh, Nicholas Pooran, Umran Malik, Kartik Tyagi, Andre Russell (vc)
Match prediction
It’s a very difficult choice to make between the two mid-tabled teams, but given the balance and experience in the SunRisers team, I am predicting them to emerge victorious in the fixture.