Internet Desk: Hosts Kolkata Knight Riders will face table toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad in a do or die match at Eden Gardens on Sunday. From being atop the table midway into the season, the Knights find themselves slipping to No.4 with 14 points with only a match to go. The Knight Riders will be hoping Mumbai Indians to lose against Gujarat Lions tonight at Kanpur. If Lions win they will end up topping the table, but a win for Mumbai will mean Knight Riders have to win against Sunrisers tommorow.
Conditions will also be a key factor with the rainfall in the last two days forcing the entire Eden Gardens ground to be under covers. Both the teams would be watchful of the conditions, even though a clear sky is being forecast for the match.
But it’s a virtual knockout for Gautam Gambhir’s men who are battling inconsistency and an injury to their go-to man Andre Russell.
The big-hitting Jamaican all-rounder, who has two man-of-the-match performances this season, missed the game against Gujarat Lions because of a leg injury and KKR would pray for his recovery ahead of the do-or-die clash. According to Simon Katich, “Andre is getting treatment from our physio and we are unsure about where he is at. He is probably going to miss out if he is not fit enough to play tomorrow given the nature of the injury. He has a hamstring injury and he is getting treatment.”
Russell is KKR’s highest wicket-taker this season, sixth in the most wickets’ tally, with 15 scalps from 12 matches. He also boasts of a highest strike rate of 164.91 per cent among his teammates, and is their fourth leading run-scorer.
KKR needed two wins from four matches to seal a playoff berth but with back-to-back losses, the Gambhir-led side faces a knockout against Hyderabad and it would add to their misery if Russell does not recover in time.
The 2012 and 2014 IPL winning skipper is no more getting success from his spinners, a strategy that had worked well for him previously.
With time running out fast, Gambhir needs to promote his big-hitters. He is also expected to give a good start along with his settled opening partner Robin Uthappa.
KKR had defeated SRH by eight wickets in the away fixture with Gambhir leading by example with an unbeaten 90 to chase down 143 in 18.2 overs.
Gambhir would hope to do an encore against the team which lost by six wickets to Delhi Daredevils in a last-ball finish yesterday.
Hyderabad’s dazzling seam attack is left with a void after senior pro Ashish Nehra’s hamstring injury ruled him out of the remainder of the season.
In Nehra’s absence another left-arm seamer Barinder Sran did a neat job with his 2/34 but it was not enough as Daredevils kept their hopes alive in a rare day of lapses on the field for skipper David Warner.
With seven half-centuries in a total of 640 runs, Warner is second behind Virat Kohli’s 865 in the leading rungetters tally and he will look to lay the foundation with Shikhar Dhawan before the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Moises Henriques and Eoin Morgan capitalise.