The second game of the Indian Premier League 2019 is between last year’s runner-up Sunrisers Hyderabad and two-time champion Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens. Both teams look settled on papers and have enough firepower to set the whole stadium on fire. But who will come victorious in the clash of two heavyweights? First, have a deeper look in the squad and balance of both teams.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata Knight Riders bought several players in the auction of IPL 2019 and as many as five overseas players. Last year, KKR went for some big names at the start and failed to give balance to the team. However, despite looking poor on papers, KKR did exceptionally well and made it to the playoffs.
Also Read: Who will be the X factor of KKR in IPL 2019?
Dinesh Karthik will lead the team for a second consecutive year and will do the finisher’s role. His batting and captaincy skill was on display last year and is expected to the same this year as well. The home team is likely to field Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, and Carlos Braithwaite as four overseas players.
Probable XI: Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Shubhman Gill, Dinesh Karthik (C/WK), Andre Russell, Carlos Braithwaite, Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Prasidh Krishna.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Sunrisers Hyderabad is the most balanced team on papers. They have replacements for every single player in the team. They are likely to suffer badly once the foreign players leave early for preparations of the World Cup, but SRH squad has a depth to cover in. David Warner’s return will come as a boost to the team’s hopes in IPL 2019.
Also Read: Who will be the X factor of SRH in IPL 2019?
Kane Williamson will lead Hyderabad this year after successfully taking them to the second place in IPL 2018. He was the leading run-scorer last year with 735 runs in 17 games and his captaincy was top-notch. Now, with Warner is on his side, SRH is looking one team to beat this year.
Probable XI: David Warner, Kane Williamson (C), Wriddhiman Saha, Manish Pandey, Vijay Shankar, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed.
