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The Knight Riders have questionable middle order, but they also have Shakib Al Hasan waiting his turn.
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Last season, the Hyderabad Sunrisers ended the Kolkata Knight Riders’ playoff hopes with a win over the Mumbai Indians in their final league game. The Sunrisers were a better team then and they claimed their place in the top four with a strong NRR.
This season, they became the first to retire from playoff competition – two wins in 11 games typically do; they just didn’t click as a unit, but their bowling kind of came together in the last two games. They almost won against table players Chennai Super Kings in their last game. And they once again have the chance to ruin the Knight Riders party.
The Knight Riders have been in this situation for the past two seasons as well – and have faltered, finishing fifth every time. They wouldn’t want to complicate matters this time around either, and a win here could boost their chances.
They have a better chance this time too. Among the middle teams – five battling for two places – they have the best NRR. They will face the two worst-placed teams in their next two games, and they have players like Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy winning games for them.
But they have not been consistent. For one thing, they struggled with their suit in the absence of Andre Russell. Their captain Eoin Morgan has still not regained form. They enter the game after losing to the Punjab Kings on Friday. Their goal will be to play their XI well. And it might not be easy to get out of it.
In the news
It’s unclear when Russell and Lockie Ferguson, who were injured, will be fit to play. The Knight Riders brought Tim Seifert an extra hitter for the final game, while Tim Southee, who initially replaced Russell in the XI, took Ferguson’s place that day. They have the option of bringing in the versatile Shakib Al Hasan, who can not only participate with his bowling, but can also provide the much needed hitting weight in the middle order. Head coach Brendon McCullum said Friday the team viewed Shakib primarily as a top-three hitter, although that “doesn’t mean he can’t fit somewhere else.”
Probable XI
Calcutta Horsemen: 1 Shubman Gill, 2 Venkatesh Iyer, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Eoin Morgan (capt), 6 Dinesh Karthik (week), 7 Tim Seifert / Shakib Al Hasan, 8 Sunil Narine, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Prasidh Krishna / Warrior Sandeep, 11 Varun Chakravarthy
Sunrise in Hyderabad: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Wriddhiman Saha (week), 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Priyam Garg, 5 Abhishek Sharma, 6 Jason Holder, 7 Abdul Samad, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Siddarth Kaul, 11 Sandeep Sharma
Strategy punt
Wriddhiman Saha has an excellent record against the Knight Riders in the tournament: he scored most of his IPL runs against them, scored 140 against their bowlers and had his best tournament of 115 * against them in the 2014 final. Other than him, all of the Sunrisers’ other hitters have scored less than 110 against Narine. However, Saha was sacked by Narine three times in ten meetings. The Knight Riders will want to take advantage of this match and send Narine to the bowling alley before the first match.
Statistics that matter
- Iyer was superb at the top of the Knight Riders standings. The 193 points he has scored are the third highest for an unreleased Indian player after five games in the IPL.
- Shubman Gill’s 19.9 average is the lowest among hitters who scored a low of 200 points in the 2021 IPL.
- Dinesh Karthik needs five more to reach 4,000 races in the IPL.
- The Knight Riders have won four of the last five games against Sunrisers.
Sruthi Ravindranath is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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