Internet Desk: Table-toppers Kolkata Knight Riders will look to continue their three match winning streak when they take on the defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad in an Indian Premier League encounter on Sunday.
Gautam Gambhir led KKR have been in prime form as they already won seven of their nine games so far in IPL season 10. On the other hand Sunrisers Hyderabad are currently holding the third spot of the table with 11 points after playing nine games.
Some of the KKR players are going through the form of their life which is helping the team in this season. Skipper Gautam Gambhir is holding the Orange Cap, Sunil Narine, who has evolved as a great opener for KKR and last but not least Robin Uthappa has hit the ‘Most Sixes’.
KKR beat Delhi Daredevils comprehensively by seven wickets with 22 balls left at the Eden Gardens on Friday. Nathan Coulter-Nile was the pick of bowler for KKR as he took three crucial wickets for his team to break the back of Delhi while Gambhir and Uthappa followed it up with some brilliant batting to help the home team cross the line.
KKR would look to continue their winning streak tomorrow at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium, but Sunrisers would like to avenge their defeat in their previous meeting in Kolkata on April 15. SRH batsmen had failed to click in their chase of 173-run target in that match. They could only score 155 runs in 20 overs to lose the match by 17 runs.
However, SRH have shown much improvement since then with captain David Warner, opener Shikhar Dhawan and the experienced Kane Williamson having been in destructive form.
Warner’s 51, Dhawan’s 77 in 48 balls and 54 not out by Williamson powered SRH to 207/3 in their match against Kings XI Punjab last night at Mohali. SRH eventually won the match by 26 runs.
Though the seasoned Yuvraj Singh has not been in the best of his form, he can turn things around on his day. Moises Henriques, wicket-keeper-batsman Naman Ojha and Deepak Hooda can chipped in in the middle-order.
Sunrisers have one of the best bowling attacks among the IPL teams this season. Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar continues to hold the Purple Cap, spin sensation from Afghanistan Rashid Khan, seasoned Ashish Nehra and Siddarth Kaul have been among wickets.
Ben Cutting, new recruit Mohammad Siraj, all-rounder Mohammed Nabi, Barinder Sran and others offer a comfortable options to the team management in the bowling department.
The Teams (From):
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson, Yuvraj Singh, Ashish Nehra, Naman Ojha (wk), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Tanmay Agarwal, Ricky Bhui, Bipul Sharma, Ben Cutting, Eklavya Dwivedi, Moises Henriques, Deepak Hooda, Chris Jordan, Siddharth Kaul, Ben Laughlin, Abhimanyu Mithun, Mohammad Nabi, Mohammed Siraj, Mustafizur Rahman, Rashid Khan, Vijay Shankar, Barinder Sran, Pravin Tambe.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (capt), Darren Bravo, Yusuf Pathan, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa and Umesh Yadav, Suryakumar Yadav, Ankit Rajpoot, Trent Boult, Piyush Chawla, Nathan Coulter Nile, Colin De Grandhomme, Rishi Dhawan, Sayan Ghosh, Shaikb-Al-Hasan, Sheldon Jackson, Ishank Jaggi, Kuldeep Yadav, Chris Woakes, Chris Lynn, Manish Pandey.