It’s a contest between the current champions of the IPL and the team on top of the points table – Sunrisers Hyderabad versus Kolkata Knight Riders. It promises to be an exciting clash indeed, just as the last match between the two teams.
The last time they played earlier this month, KKR won by 18 runs, despite a great performance by Bhuvneshwar Kumar who took 3 for 20, and Yuvraj Singh who played a remarkable innings with some glorious stroke-play and a strike rate of 162.50.
Kolkata Knight Riders are the dominant side between the two and have won 7 of the 10 games played against Sunrisers. Sunrisers are third in the points table currently, having beaten Kings XI Punjab by 26 runs; losing to Rising Pune Supergiant by six wickets, but managing to beat Delhi Daredevils by 15 runs.
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Kolkata Knight Riders are first, having won all of their recent games. They have beaten Delhi Daredevils by seven wickets, Rising Pune Supergiant by seven wickets and Royal Challengers Bangalore by 82 runs.
For KKR, the experiment of opening the batting with Sunil Narine has certainly paid off handsomely. They could also open the bowling with Narine, which would make him a rare spin bowler who opens the batting as well as the bowling!
For KKR, Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa have been exceptional with the bat. They have made more runs in IPL 2017 than any other batsmen. There is every chance that both players, who are well into their thirties, could make a comeback into the Indian team for the Champions Trophy to be played in England a few months from now.
That would be something. Would Uthappa and Gambhir be talked about so much had they done well in the Ranji Trophy? No, not at all. It is only because they have performed where it matters – in the IPL – that they are once again talked about as genuine prospects for the Indian national team. This just goes to show why IPL is so important to a cricketer.
The Teams
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Moises Henriques, 6 Naman Ojha (wk), 7 Deepak Hooda, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Ashish Nehra, 11 Siddarth Kaul
Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Gautam Gambhir (capt), 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Robin Uthappa (wk), 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Yusuf Pathan, 6 Suryakumar Yadav, 7 Colin de Grandhomme, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Nathan Coulter-Nile, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Umesh Yadav
Watch Sunrisers Hyderabad take on Kolkata Knight Riders tonight at 8 pm!
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