SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) will be commencing their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 campaign on Sunday against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Chennai. SRH reached the playoffs last season but failed to win the trophy and this year with David Warner at the helm and the likes of Kane Williamson, Jonny Bairstow, Jason Roy, Rashid Khan, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the line-up, SRH is looking like a prime contender to win the title.
With a healthy balance of young and experience in the squad, SRH has Indian players such as Manish Pandey, T Natarajan, Khaleel Ahmed, Priyam Garg, and Siddarth Kaul. On the other hand, under the captaincy of Eoin Morgan, KKR has kept its core group of players intact and strengthened their area of concern. Morgan, Pat Cummins, Andre Russell, and Sunil Narine, if fit and available, are the front-runners to occupy the four overseas slots in the playing XI.
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However, the KKR team management will be having a headache among the selection of the Indian players as they have some match-winners like Shubman Gill and Prasidh Krishna. While Shubman Gill played a key role in India’s Test series win Down Under, Krishna is oozing with confidence after making an impressive ODI debut against England.
Here are the 3 player battles to watch out for from the game:
#3 Varun Chakravarthy vs Jonny Bairstow
Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy’s had a phenomenal season with KKR in IPL 2020 as he picked up 17 wickets from 13 outings, including a five-wicket haul. After picking wickets, he also managed to create an ample amount of pressure on the opposition batsmen in the middle overs, with his economical spells. He will be eyeing to perform better this season and Chennai’s spin-friendly track will certainly come to his aid.
ALSO READ: IPL 2021: Match 3 (SRH vs KKR) – 3 Players To Watch Out For
Jonny Bairstow had an ordinary Test series against India but he came out all guns blazing in the limited-overs leg, smashing 118 runs at a strike rate of 137.20 in T20Is and 219 runs at a strike rate of 120.32 in the ODIs. Bairstow has formed a formidable opening combination with David Warner and the England-Australia duo will be expected to wreak havoc this season.
