Today’s match highlights
Toss: Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
It hasn’t been a happy homecoming for Hyderabad as the side has lost both its matches at Visakhapatnam, and would be looking to turn things around when they take on Kolkata in Wednesday’s first game. Another let-up at home could see them sliding further down in the points table and with majority of the teams having settled in on their combinations already, David Warner’s outfit is yet to figure out its best eleven with some overseas players not firing.
Hyderabad and Kolkata have had distinctly contrasting outings in the 2015 IPL so far. Both teams have played four games each with Hyderabad winning one and losing three, while following back-to-back victories, Kolkata have jumped to the third spot in the standings with three wins and a defeat.
Searing conditions in Visakhapatnam have meant sparsely filled stands and a pitch that has offered inconsistent turn and bounce, and after two defeats, Hyderabad would be hoping to break their duck in their home territory. For Kolkata though, things have begun falling in place after Andre Russell saw them home in a tense contest in Pune followed by a comfortable victory in Delhi.
Sunrisers Hyderabad:
The team has benefited in the bowling department upon the arrival of Dale Steyn, who was overlooked for the first two games for new arrival Trent Boult, and the form of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Praveen Kumar has been encouraging, although they would want their premier spin bowler, Karn Sharma, to tidy up. Karn’s less-than-impressive displays thus far should have prompted a change, but his lower-order hitting against Delhi got his team to within five runs of their target.
The other worrying point has been Hyderabad’ fourth overseas player, with Eoin Morgan not being able to shrug off his poor form with the bat, and he had replaced Kane Williamson after the New Zealander’s twin failures. The management may opt for a swap yet again on Wednesday.
Kolkata Knight Riders:
After registering a comfortable win in the 2015 IPL opener, Kolkata were sluggish against Bangalore but returned to winning ways after Andre Russell’s heroics saved them from defeat against Punjab. The defending champions reeled off another victory in Delhi on Monday thanks to a clinical performance with the ball and there is no real reason for a change when they play Hyderabad.
Stat-Attack:
After enduring a horror start to last year’s IPL campaign where he scored 0, 0, 0 and 1 in his first four innings, Kolkata captain Gautam Gambhir has scored 57, 58, 11 and 60 in his first four innings this year.
Dale Steyn, Sunil Narine and Morne Morkel have the best economy rates in the tournament so far.
Quotes:
Kolkata captain Gautam Gambhir chooses to lead by example: “It’s very easy to get complacent but I assure you that till I am there (at the crease), I will not let them (his team) become complacent.”
Hyderabad batsman Shikhar Dhawan and his opening partner David Warner are not going to back off from any challenge: “We both look to go out in the middle with an attacking mindset. We are naturally aggressive and enjoy playing our shots. We complement each other and that has worked well for our team so far.”
Teams(from):
Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir(c), Robin Uthappa(wk), Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Yusuf Pathan, Andre Russell, Johan Botha, Piyush Chawla, Sunil Narine, Morne Morkel, Kishan Cariappa, Vaibhav Rawal, Aditya Garhwal, Sheldon Jackson, Sumit Narwal, Brad Hogg, Azhar Mahmood, Kuldeep Yadav, Veer Pratap Singh, Ryan ten Doeschate, Pat Cummins, Umesh Yadav
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner(c), Kane Williamson, Lokesh Rahul, Naman Ojha(wk), Ravi Bopara, Ashish Reddy, Karn Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Praveen Kumar, Dale Steyn, Eoin Morgan, Ishant Sharma, Moises Henriques, Parvez Rasool, Ricky Bhui, Chama Milind, Kevin Pietersen, Bipul Sharma, Trent Boult, Hanuma Vihari, Prasanth Padmanabhan, Siddarth Kaul
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/ipl-8-sunrisers-hyderabad-vs-kolkata-knight-riders-live-score-match-19/1/431537.html
