In the 25th match, of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will be locking horns with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai. While SRH will be coming into the game after back-to-back wins, KKR has three wins and two defeats from five games. For Sunrisers, it has been a superb return to form after having lost the first two games of the season.
It felt as if they were going the 2021 way, but Kane Williamson has managed to inspire the team with two superb wins in the last two matches. The bowling has been good so far for SRH with Umran’s pace, Bhuvnshwar Kumar’s swing, T Natarajan’s accuracy, and the top 4 in the batting department have contributed valuable runs. With the team-high on confidence, they would only be looking to maintain the momentum, and make it a hat-trick of wins.
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For Kolkata Knight Riders, it has been a bumpy ride so far. They started with a win, then lost their match. Then had two back-to-back wins, and then again lost one. They haven’t looked settled in terms of Team combination as compared to SRH, who have made very few changes in all 4 matches so far. With the hope for a win, there could be a few changes in the squad for KKR.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)
Washington Sundar will be missing a couple of games after he split the webbing in the match against GT. He might need a week to recover. Left-arm spinner Jagdeesha Suchith or leg spinner Shreyas Gopal can replace him in the eleven. Rahul Tripathi also got his hamstring pulled in the last game and had to retire during his innings. If he isn’t fit to feature, Abdul Samad or Ravikumar Samarth could replace him in the eleven.
Probable XI: Abhishek Sharma, Kane Williamson (C), Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Shashank Singh, Abdul Samad/Shreyas Gopal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Marco Jansen, Umran Malik, T Natarajan
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
Ajinkya Rahane’s form is a big concern. Sam Billings is doing a decent job, but if the management brings in Aaron Finch, Billings has to sit out. Aaron Finch and Venkatesh Iyer can open the innings, whereas, Sheldon Jackson could replace Rahane and don the keeping gloves in the absence of Billings. Two matches and Pat Cummins has already given 100 runs in bowling. He needs to do well with his bowling otherwise there is an in-form Tim Southee waiting in the wings.
Probable XI: Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane/Aaron Finch, Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Sam Billings/Sheldon Jackson, Rinku Singh/Rasikh Salam, Pat Cummins, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy
Fantasy XI suggestion 1:
Nicholas Pooran, Kane Williamson (vc), Shreyas Iyer (c), Rahul Tripathi, Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Venkatesh Iyer, Abhishek Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Rasikh Salam, Umran Malik
Fantasy XI suggestion 2:
Nicholas Pooran, Sam Billings, Ajinkya Rahane, Kane Williamson, Shreyas Iyer, Rahul Tripathi (c), Venkatesh Iyer (vc), Abhishek Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy
