Last night, Rising Pune Supergiant did the impossible by coming from behind to beat Mumbai Indians to march to the IPL 2017 final. Mumbai Indians still get another bite at the cherry as they move to the semi-final, where they will take on the winner of this Eliminator between KKR and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Sunrisers Hyderabad and KKR would have fancied their chances of being in the top two and have threatened to do so on many occasions through the IPL. But they were beaten at the last hustle by Pune Supergiant and now find themselves in a do or die battle.
The last time the two teams played, KKR defended a score of 172 at Eden Gardens. The other game between the two teams was won by David Warner for Sunrisers, who smashed a brilliant 59-ball 126 in Hyderabad.
[table id=1 /]
So far Sunrisers have won just 4 of eleven games against KKR. However, they have an advantage as they won the Eliminator of last season played between the two teams at the Feroz Shah Kotla.
The question to be asked is if both sides have peaked too early. Unlike Pune, who are peaking as the IPL 10 draws to a close, both of these teams look slightly fatigued at this stage. Both sides have only won three of their last 8 games, which is not a record they would be proud of.
Sunrisers have had many injuries, but have managed their resources well. Ashish Nehra won’t feature for them, unfortunately. Nehraji, as he is affectionately called, has been injured yet again, which you can expect since he is the world’s oldest fast bowler at 38. It is a miracle that he is still playing.
Sunrisers are fortunate to have a core that is in great form – David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan in the batting department and Rashid Khan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the bowling department.
They have a decent set of supporting players in Kane Williamson, Mohammad Siraj, Mohammad Nabi, and Bipul Sharma, who they can call upon in case of an injury to any of their top players. Yuvraj Singh may or may not play depending on the results of a fitness test.
KKR will still open with Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn, but that has diminished the role played by Manish Pandey and Yusuf Pathan in the time. Chris Woakes and Shakib Al Hasan have left to join their national teams, while Suryakumar Yadav and Nathan Coulter-Nile are out because of injuries.
So, neither of the two teams will play their best sides. Who will win? Our bet is on Sunrisers Hyderabad as they have a better team with more talented players, who are in good form. They could go on to win IPL 2017. But you never know!
The Teams
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Moises Henriques, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Vijay Shankar, 6 Mohammad Nabi, 7 Naman Ojha (wk), 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Rashid Khan, 10 Mohammad Siraj, 11 Siddarth Kaul
Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Sunil Narine, 2 Chris Lynn, 3 Gautam Gambhir (capt), 4 Robin Uthappa (wk), 5 Manish Pandey, 6 Yusuf Pathan, 7 Colin de Grandhomme, 8 Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Ankit Rajpoot
Watch Sunrisers Hyderabad play Kolkata Knight Riders tonight at 8 pm on Sony Six!
[table id=16 responsive=”tablet” /]
