Hyderabad: Both sides are coming off comprehensive victories and have established themselves as forces to reckon with in the top bracket of the IPL table. Sunday's slugfest between sturdy Sunrisers Hyderabad and all-conquering Kolkata Knight Riders promises to be a scorcher, even as it is played on a mid-summer night. Dream game.
The stakes are high, especially for the home team, for a win would close the gap at the top — the defending champions are three points adrift of table-toppers KKR with both teams having played an equal number of games.
The hosts go into the match with oodles of confidence, having not lost at home this season. They have played four games at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium and have provided the fans with a lot to cheer. However, high-flying Knights could be the real big test for the Eagles, who have been combative so far.
There's not much to pick between the teams. KKR have a couple of tricky customers in spinners Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav to support seamers Nathan Coulter-Nile, Umesh Yadav and Chris Woakes. They have also been springing surprises by pushing Narine as the pinch hitter at the top, something the Sunrisers have to be wary of.
The visitors’ batting looks solid as ever with Gautam Gambhir leading from the front and Robin Uthappa striking form.
Add Manish Pandey and the destructive Yusuf Pathan to that line-up and you are looking at a probable mountain of runs.
The Eagles are sure to give their rivals a run though.
David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan have got the team off to great starts, which have been commendably capitalised upon by the likes of Kane Williamson, Moises Henriques and Yuvraj Singh, not to forget cameos from Deepak Hooda.
Oustanding seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar is all too familiar with purple, colour of the opposition and the cap he owns for being the leading wicket-taker in the tournament. He would look for able support from Moises, Siddharth Kaul and the reliable Rashid Khan in the bowling department even as Warner has the luxury of turning to Yuvraj Singh and Deepak Hood to break the rivals’ rhythm. Be that as it may, rival captains and left-handed openers Gambhir and Warner being no.1 and 2 in the Orange Cap category provides a sub-plot to the match that should be a feast for fans.
