IPL 8: All-round Kolkata Knight Riders crush Sunrisers Hyderabad on home turf
Toss: Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and have opted to bowl.
Preview:
The last time Kolkata and Hyderabad locked horns in IPL 2015, it was David Warner's 91 that proved to be the difference between the two sides. On Monday, both teams will land in Kolkata having played their respective matches on Saturday. While Kolkata lost to Bangalore in a last-over finish, Hyderabad trumped table-toppers Chennai. In the previous five games between the two sides, Kolkata have defeated Hyderabad thrice, and the advantage of playing at home will certainly work in their favour. But after what transpired in Visakhapatnam on Saturday, all that will have little impact.
Having now posted three wins in their last four games, Hyderabad have jumped to fifth in the points table, right below Gautam Gambhir's team which has a superior net run-rate. The main reason behind their resurgence has been the form of Warner. The skipper has led from the front with five half-centuries in eight matches, four of which have come in wins. On Saturday, he cracked a superlative 28-ball 61 against Chennai that allowed his team to notch up their highest IPL total this season - 192. Shikhar Dhawan has also done remarkably well at the top, and Trent Boult, along with Praveen Kumar, has headed the bowling department well.
Kolkata, on the other hand, have hit a small slump of late. They did well to topple Chennai, but then lost ground in Bangalore. With just five more matches left to play, Kolkata will need to get their act together in order to make it to the play-off. Their top order has raised a few concerns. Robin Uthappa's unbeaten 80 against Chennai is his only 50-plus score this season and he needs to carry it forward and give support to his skipper. The bowling looks slightly better but Gambhir needs to fix his four-foreigner dilemma soon. He's shuffled them far too often - barring Andre Russell - and this has prevented them from putting their best foot forward.
On current form, Hyderabad go into the match as favourites but they can't afford to take the defending champions lightly.
Team News:
Kolkata
Their biggest threat is Warner. Getting him out early will win them half the battle, and for that Morne Morkel will need to make his way back in the team. The tall South African has dismissed Warner six times in international cricket and twice in the IPL. He is an ideal replacement for Pat Cummins, who hasn't quite grabbed the brass ring, picking up just one wicket in the three games he's played so far.
Hyderabad
Hyderabad's spin stock has found itself difficult to get going. Karn Sharma has four wickets in eight matches and the Eden Gardens pitch has always offered some purchase for the spinners. Perhaps the legspinner can be benched for Parvez Rasool, who can also chip in with the bat.
Stats:
Warner has the highest number of half-centuries in the IPL - 21, while his KOL counterpart Gambhir needs 70 runs to reach 2,000 runs.
Teams (from):
Hyderabad: Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner(c), Hanuma Vihari, Moises Henriques, Naman Ojha(w), Eoin Morgan, Ashish Reddy, Karn Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Praveen Kumar, Trent Boult, Dale Steyn, Ishant Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Parvez Rasool, Ricky Bhui, Chama Milind, Kane Williamson, Ravi Bopara, Bipul Sharma, Prasanth Padmanabhan, Siddarth Kaul
Kolkata: Gautam Gambhir(c), Robin Uthappa(w), Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Andre Russell, Ryan ten Doeschate, Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Pat Cummins, Umesh Yadav, Brad Hogg, Sumit Narwal, Sheldon Jackson, Aditya Garhwal, Kishan Cariappa, Vaibhav Rawal, Johan Botha, Azhar Mahmood, Kuldeep Yadav, Veer Pratap Singh, Morne Morkel, Sunil Narine
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