IPL 2021 Match 3: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Kolkata Knight Riders Preview

Match Details

Date: 11 April 2021

Time: 7:30 PM (IST)

Venue: Chepauk Stadium, Chennai

Live Ball-by-Ball Commentary: SportsTiger App

Preview

After a thrilling start to the tournament with Indian captains leading the way, it is now time for the two overseas skippers to commence their side's campaign. David Warner's Sunrisers Hyderabad are set to lock horns with Eoin Morgan's Kolkata Knight Riders in a blockbuster clash on super Sunday.

Both the sides have a history of producing some mouth-watering contests for the fans. When the two sides met last, the match went into a Super Over. Although Kolkata Knight Riders got the better of Sunrisers Hyderabad on both the occasions in IPL 2020, it was the Hyderabad based franchise who had a much more successful campaign overall. Both the teams made some valuable additions in the auction with Shakib al Hasan going to KKR and Kedar Jadhav joining SRH.

The strength of Eoin Morgan's side is their explosive batting, which has the likes of Shubman Gill, Dinesh Karthik and Andre Russell apart from the skipper himself. On the other hand, David Warner's team has one of the most lethal bowling attacks in the form of Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T Natarajan. It will extremely interesting to see who comes out on top in a high-voltage contest in Chennai on Sunday.

Team News

Sunrisers Hyderabad:

SRH were handed an early blow as Mitchell Marsh pulled out of the tournament and was replaced by Jason Roy in the squad. There is also a question mark over Kane Williamson's fitness who has been out of action for a while due to an elbow injury. Considering the track in Chennai would assist the spinners, Mohammad Nabi or Mujeeb ur Rahman could also feature in the playing XI.

Kolkata Knight Riders:

KKR also suffered from a setback ahead of the season after Rinku Singh was ruled out of the tournament due to an injury. Gurkeerat Singh Mann has been roped in as his replacement by the franchise. While there is still no clarity as to who will open with Shubman Gill. The team-management will have some tough decisions to make regarding the selection of four overseas players.

Head to Head

Matches played: 19

Kolkata Knight Riders: 12

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 7

Key Players

Shubman Gill:

The right-handed batsman was the franchise's leading run-scorer in IPL 2020, with 440 runs in 14 matches at an average of 33.53. After getting some international experience while playing for India, the fans would have a lot of hopes from Gill, batting at top of the order. The 21-year-old would want to begin the new season with a big knock.

Rashid Khan:

The Afghan leg-spinner is one of the most dangerous bowlers in T20 format across the globe. Rashid had an incredible season in UAE last year, ending the tournament with 20 wickets in 16 matches at an economy of 5.37. He will have a lot of assistance on the Chepauk wicket and he would be raring to weave his magic against the opposition once again.

Probable XI

Sunrisers Hyderabad:

David Warner (c), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Kane Williamson/Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Abdul Samad, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Sandeep Sharma