IPL 9, Eliminator Preview: KKR, SRH lock horns for a place in the finals

The tournament has now reached its business end with the playoffs commencing from tomorrow. There will no room for mistakes for both the teams – Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders – when they clash with each other at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, Delhi. With 16 points from 14 games, both teams have had a fairly similar kind of journey so far with Sunrisers sitting just above KKR as a result of the superior net run rate. KKR will feel like they underachieved. They were dominant but in patches. SRH, on the other hand, began their campaign on a sour note, losing both their opening games. However, they resurrected things quickly and maintained consistency to finally reach here. Talking about head to head advantage, KKR has a slight advantage with a 2-0 win-loss record.

Sunrisers Hyderabad:

Skipper David Warner has been the saviour for the team so far. The second highest run-getter in the tournament has been the only consistent performer with the bat. He had a bad day in the final league game but will bounce back harder. Shikhar Dhawan looks in good touch and bailed his team out of problem whenever Warner has failed. The rest of the batting has to take collective responsibility. The middle order in an away appears to be the weak link. KKR bowlers have exploited this weak link pretty effectively on both the previous occasions these two teams have met.

Comeback man Yuvraj Singh hasn’t lived up to the expectation everyone had from him. Kane Williamson, too, has struggled and needs to play a solid innings in the upcoming game. The bowling department has suffered a huge loss in the form of Ashish Nehra but his absence has not been felt much. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Barinder Sran, and Mustafizur form a match-winning combination. They snap early breakthroughs and contain the hitters at the death. But, one thing must be kept in mind that the KKR batsmen have coped well with them than most of the teams and have managed to bog down the trio to a great extent.

Kolkata Knight Riders:

Opener Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa were the lifeline at the start of the tournament and batted well together. However, both seem to have lost their touch and have been quite inconsistent with the bat. Both of them must give an inspiring start to the team and lay a platform for the in-form middle order to capitalise. Andre Russell’s availability still seems to be uncertain owing to the hamstring injury. His absence has been dearly felt in both the departments. His unavailability means a loss of a powerful hitter and a genuine wicket taker.

His return would be a huge boost and KKR fans would be eager to know about his fitness update. Manish Pandey has stood up whenever the team has required him. Yusuf Pathan has been the ace in the pack for the KKR. Pathan, with 359 runs at a superb average of 89.75, has been in wonderful touch with the bat and has rescued his team out of danger more than a couple of times. Talking about bowling, Delhi will most likely offer a slow track which will be great news for KKR’s bowling attack dominated by spinners. Sunil Narine’s 3/26 came at the right time. Kuldeep Yadav has bolstered the spin armoury. With an experienced Chawla still available for the playing XI, Gambhir will have a tough time deciding the spin combination.

Probable XI:

Sunriser Hyderabad:

David Warner (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson, Deepak Hooda, Yuvraj Singh, Moises Henriques, Naman Ojha (WK), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Karn Sharma, Barinder Sran, Mustafizur Rahman

Kolkata Knight Riders:

Robin Uthappa (WK), Gautam Gambhir (C), Manish Pandey, Colin Munro, Yusuf Pathan, Shakib Al Hasan, Suryakumar Yadav, Jason Holder, Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav,/Piyush Chawla, Ankit Rajpoot