Big Picture - KKR and SRH both on the rise
Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad were both thrashed in their first games of the season and there was no single noteworthy performer for either team. But brighter days are already here.
It's been three days since that miracle innings but Knight Riders will still be on a high. Two 200-plus scores - one defended and one chased - will have done their confidence a world of good.
Team News - Roy and Litton arrive
Toss and Impact Player strategy
Kolkata Knight Riders
Probable bat-first XI: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk) 2 N Jagadeesan, 3 Venkatesh Iyer, 4 Nitish Rana (capt), 5 Andre Russell, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Shardul Thakur, 8 Sunil Narine, 9 Lockie Ferguson, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Varun Chakravarthy.
Probable bowl-first XI: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Venkatesh Iyer, 3 Nitish Rana (capt), 4 Andre Russell, 5 Rinku Singh, 6 Shardul Thakur, 7 Sunil Narine, 8 Lockie Ferguson, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Suyash Sharma
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Harry Brook replaced Anmolpreet Singh at the top of the order and Sunrisers brought in Heinrich Klaasen to keep gloves in the last match against Kings. They might look to get Abdul Samad in when they bat - especially if it's a chase - for one of the bowlers to strengthen their line-up.
Probable bat-first XI: 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 Harry Brook, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Heinrich Klaasen, 6 Abdul Samad, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Mayank Markande, 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Umran Malik/ T Natrajan
Probable bowl-first XI: 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 Harry Brook, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Aiden Markram (capt.), 5 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 6 Washington Sundar, 7 Marco Jansen, 8 Mayank Markande, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Umran Malik, 11 T Natarajan.
Stats that matter - Sunrisers' spin issues
- In 11 matches in IPL 2022, Varun Chakravarthy took just six wickets. He has already taken five wickets in three matches this season.
- Sunrisers have hit only 15 sixes in powerplay in IPL since 2022, the least for a team in this period.
- Sunrisers have struggled against spinners in IPL 2023. They have lost 12 wickets to spin so far, the second-most for a team behind Delhi Capitals. They also have the lowest strike rate (101) and average (13.7) against spinners this season.
Quotes
"T20's a fantastic game. The game can be won or lost in the last ball, and throughout every IPL that I've been a part of, it seems like every game comes right down to the last over which is why it's such a great product"
Knight Riders fast bowler Lockie Ferguson
Sruthi Ravindranath is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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