Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will be locking horns with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the 61st match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 at the MCA Stadium in Pune. After a good start to the season, KKR failed to continue the early momentum and their campaign looked in all sorts of trouble. However, they managed to get their combination right in the last game finally, and are likely to stick with this playing XI for the last couple of matches unless Umesh Yadav makes a comeback.
However, their pace bowler Pat Cummins has been ruled out and he has already returned home. On the other hand, the Sunrisers Hyderabad have lost all their last four matches and they are desperate to register a win in this game. The injury to T Natarajan and Washington Sundar hasn’t helped their cause and they will be looking to get back to winning ways soon with the playoff stages approaching.
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With five wins in 11 games, SRH is at the sixth position in the points table and they will also be required to improve their net run rate as well. In the 22 meetings between the two sides in IPL so far, KKR is leading the charts 14-8 against SRH in the head-to-head battles. In the last 5 meetings, however, it’s 3-2 in favor of KKR.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
Shreyas Iyer and his men have been guilty of entering into a game with wrong combinations, and it was only in the last game that they perhaps played their best eleven. Interestingly, they returned to their Plan A, which they had tried and abandoned earlier this season. Pat Cummins’s unavailability, though, has been a huge blow but if Umesh Yadav recovers from the calf strain which kept him out of the last game, it will make KKR’s life a whole lot easier.
Probable XI: Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer(c), Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Sheldon Jackson/Sam Billings(w), Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Varun Chakaravarthy
SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH)
The injury-absence of Washington Sundar and T Natarajan have, without a doubt, had an effect on the team’s fortunes, as has Kane Williamson’s batting orm or lack thereof. But both the bowlers are expected to be fit for the KKR game, which will be a massive boost to the side.
Probable XI: Abhishek Sharma, Kane Williamson(c), Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran(w), Shashank Singh, Washington Sundar, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Umran Malik
Fantasy XI Suggestion 1:
Nicholas Pooran, Rahul Tripathi (C), Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana (VC), Kane Williamson, Andre Russell, Aiden Markram, Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Tim Southee, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Fantasy XI Suggestion 2:
Nicholas Pooran, Rahul Tripathi, Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Abhishek Sharma, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell (C), Aiden Markram (VC), Umran Malik, Tim Southee, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
