Indian T20 League 2024: Kolkata vs Hyderabad, Match 3 - MPL Opinio Prediction

Preview

Kolkata (KOL) will take on Hyderabad (HYD) in the third match of the Indian T20 League 2024 on Saturday (March 23) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. This will be the second game of the day.

Both teams didn’t have a great outing last season and failed to make it to the playoffs. Kolkata won a total of six out of 14 matches and finished in seventh place. Hyderabad were in last place in the points table with just four wins in 14 matches.

For Kolkata, Shreyas Iyer is back in the team as the skipper and Nitish Rana has been appointed as his deputy. Rana led the side in the absence of Iyer last season. Hyderabad have appointed Pat Cummins as the captain of the side. They have had a different captain in each season since 2021.

Both the teams made some historical moves at the auction table in the mini auction. Kolkata released a total of 12 players from last season before heading to the mini auction. They shelled out INR 24.75 crore for Mitchell Starc and he became the most expensive player in the history of auction. Kolkata bought nine more players in the auction. Sherfane Rutherford, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Gus Atkinson were the other three overseas players bought by Kolkata. Atkinson made himself unavailable for the season and has been replaced by Dushmantha Chameera. Jason Roy also pulled out of the tournament and Kolkata roped in Phil Salt to replace Roy.

Hyderabad released a total of six players before going into the mini auction and had a purse of INR 34 crore. They spent INR 20.5 crore for Pat Cummins and he became the first player to breach the INR 20-crore mark in the history of auction. Hyderabad got Travis Head for INR 6.8 crore, Wanindu Hasaranga for INR 1.5 crore, and Jaydev Unadkat for INR 1.6 crore. They picked Akash Singh and Jhathavedh Subramanyan for INR 20 lakh each.

Kolkata vs Hyderabad Head to Head

Both teams have faced each other on 25 occasions in the Indian T20 League. Kolkata have won 16 matches, while Hyderabad have been victorious on nine occasions. Both teams won one game each last season against each other. Kolkata have won three out of the last five matches against Hyderabad.

Probable Playing XIs

Kolkata

Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Mitchell Starc, Chetan Sakariya, Varun Chakravarthy, Suyash Sharma

Hyderabad

Mayank Agarwal, Travis Head, Aiden Markram, Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Abdul Samad, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Pat Cummins (c), Umran Malik, Mayank Markande

Watch: Kolkata vs Hyderabad - MPL Opinio Prediction Tips

Eden Gardens Pitch Report

The Eden Gardens in Kolkata have hosted a total of 86 Indian T20 League matches so far. The teams batting first have won 35 matches, while the teams batting second have won on 51. The average first innings score in the last 10 T20 matches here has been 191 runs. The average wickets lost per inning has been six.
Considering, the average first innings score one can infer the surface might have a lot to offer to the batters. The team winning the toss might look to bat as the teams batting first have won 60% of the matches recently. Pacers have played a crucial role in the last few matches here but spinners might also get a decent help from the surface.

Kolkata vs Hyderabad, Match 3: Today's MPL Opinio Prediction

Kolkata vs Hyderabad Key Player Battles

Rinku Singh vs Hyderabad’s bowlers

He has a strike rate of 240 against Marco Jansen and has hit 24 runs off 10 deliveries. His batting average is of 111 against off-spinners. In overs 17 to 20, Rinku has a batting strike rate of 221. Rinku has made 62 runs against Mayank Markande off 36 deliveries.

Nitish Rana vs Hyderabad’s bowlers

Rana has a strong record against T Natarajan, Washington Sundar, and Umran Malik. He has an average of 44 against Malik. Against Sundar, Rana has hit 25 runs off 18 deliveries and has been dismissed once. He has been dismissed thrice by Natarajn but has collected 76 runs off 44 deliveries against him.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar vs Kolkata’s batters

He has dismissed Rahmanullah Gurbaz twice in four balls in T20s. He has an economy rate of just six against left-handed batters. His economy in the Powerplay has been just six against Kolkata.

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Aiden Markram vs Kolkata’s bowlers

He has a batting average of 67 against Varun Chakravarthy and has made 67 runs off 36 deliveries. He has faced eight balls from Suyash Sharma and has hit 22 runs. Against Andre Rusell, Markram has made 34 runs off 20 deliveries. Markram has a batting average of 92 against off-spinners.

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