Kolkata: All eyes will be on comeback man David Warner when last year’s finalist SunRisers Hyderabad will face two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders in their opening game of Indian Premier League season 12 at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.
Under his leadership the Hyderabad based outfit won their maiden IPL title in 2016, and next year Warner was the top scorer of his team. Though the fiery opener missed last year’s cash rich league after the ball-tampering scandal in Capetown; and now he is ready to make a comeback.
Warner will be the most scrutinised player for Sunrisers this season after he was banned for a year over his role in the ball-tampering scandal. While Warner and his Australia team-mate and captain Steve Smith were banned for a year, young Cameron Bancroft was left out for nine months for his role.
Come this year, both Warner and Smith would hope to make an impact for their respective IPL sides.
Even as his international ban will end on March 28, the left-handed opener is eligible to play in the franchise league and would hope to get into his zone to stake a claim in Australia’s World Cup squad.
Warner went under the knife for an elbow injury in January during the Bangladesh Premier League but made a successful comeback for his Sydney club Randy Petes with a 77-ball century in a one-day game earlier this month.
Kane Williamson, who led them to runners-up finish in the Aussie’s absence last season, will continue to captain SRH, a team that is known for its depth and variation in bowling.
While Bhuvneshwar Kumar will lead Hyderabad’s pace department, Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan will be in charge of the spin attack.
They have traded in Vijay Shankar, Shahbaz Nadeem and Abhishek Sharma for Shikhar Dhawan, but it remains to be seen how they overcome the Indian opener’s departure.
In KKR’s camp, skipper Dinesh Karthik will look to make the most of this opportunity to get the selectors’ attention.
Taking charge of the team after Gautam Gambhir’s exit, Karthik led KKR to third-place finish following their loss to SRH in the second eliminator last year.