IPL 2024: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs. Kolkata Knight Riders
The attention will be on Shreyas Iyer’s recovery from a protracted injury layoff when Australian pacers Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, the two biggest additions to the IPL, square off in Kolkata Knight Riders’ inaugural game against Sunrisers Hyderabad this Saturday.
The Indian batter, who had a back ailment that kept him out of the season the previous year, is back to lead KKR, who have added some strategic players without changing the core of the team.
Shreyas impressed with the bat, smashing a 95 in Mumbai’s recent Ranji Trophy victory, but considering his health issues, it’s unclear whether he’ll be ready for every game.
Gautam Gambhir, the most successful captain of KKR, comes returned for a second stint as an advisor. Their comeback will depend on his collaboration with head coach Chandrakant Pandit, a cunning strategist on the Indian circuit.
Gambhir has been advised by team principle owner Shah Rukh Khan, “This is your franchise, make it or break it.” From 2011 to 2017, KKR enjoyed an incredible run led by the former Indian cricket player. They won two IPL championships, made it to five playoffs, and finished second in the now-defunct Champions League T20 competition.
With KKR having signed the marquee player of this IPL season, Starc, for a record-breaking Rs 24.75 crore, the left-arm fast will have a lot of pressure to produce.
The key will be his spell in the final overs and power play. Since there are no like-for-like substitutes for Starc and Andre Russell, who are the only two seasoned pacers in KKR’s lineup, managing their workload will be essential.
In addition to Russell and Rinku Singh’s devastating finish, KKR feature a superb top-order batting lineup in Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Phil Salt, Venkatesh Iyer, and Shreyas.
However, the team that Gambhir mentioned would be counting heavily on the home ground to provide some spin in order to support players like Suyash Sharma, Varun Chakravarthy, and Sunil Narine.
While the Australian captain will also have his work cut out for him, Starc will have his captain Cummins guiding SRH in the next dug-out.
The third-most expensive purchase in this IPL season, Cummins (Rs 20.50 crore), will be closely watched to try to turn around the team’s fortunes after two consecutive wooden-spoon finishes.
On paper, KKR will be overwhelming favorites thanks to their all-star batting lineup and spin-heavy approach, which will counterbalance Starc’s quickness.
But SRH will undoubtedly like their chances, especially with Cummins leading the way. The hitting power of Heinrich Klaasen and Travis Head will be crucial throughout the power play and death overs.
With senior Indian death-overs specialist Bhuvneshwar Kumar and the experienced Cummins in the roster, their bowling also seems well-balanced. In the spin department, players like Washington Sundar and Wanindu Hasaranga will be vital.
It’s unclear whether Hasaranga, the outstanding all-rounder from Sri Lanka who was banned by the ICC for the Test match against Bangladesh, would be eligible for the first game for SRH.
Squads:
The following players represent the Kolkata Knight Riders: KS Bharat, Phil Salt, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Dushmantha Chameera, Varun Chakaravarthy, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Sherfane Rutherford, Angkrish, Raghuvanshi, and Andre Russell.
Pat Cummins ©, Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Travis Head, Wanindu Hasaranga, Marco Jansen, Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Sanvir Singh, Heinrich Klaaasen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Agarwal, T. Natarajan, Anmolpreet Singh, Mayank Markande, Upendra Singh Yadav, Umran Malik, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Shahbaz Ahmed, Jaydev Unadkat, Akash Singh, Jhathavedh Subramanyan are the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Time: 7.30 p.m. Indian Standard Time.
