Sunrisers Hyderabad V Kolkata Knight Riders
Week 3 of Pepsi IPL 2015 will kick off with a contest between Sunrisers Hyderabad and defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders.
Since beating a formidable Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad have lost two close matches at home – against Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils. RR pipped them at the post winning off the last ball of the match, while DD defended ten off the last over and won by four runs. SRH have competed – but they will be aware of the need to start getting points on the board quickly.
A lot rides on the shoulders of the two SRH openers – David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan. The two left-handers will be aware that their team’s batting order does not boast of as much ammunition and depth as some of the other sides and hence need to score big. They are the team’s top two run-getters at this stage and have made runs in every outing; but given the team’s results, they will know of the need to stay at the crease longer and convert the starts to fifties, fifties to big fifties or even post the three-figure scores.
KKR have played like champions, winning three of their four matches and are placed in the top half of the table. They were clinical in their previous outing against the Delhi Daredevils when they restricted the hosts to a modest 146 and chased down the runs without breaking a sweat.
KKR’s batting plans revolve around their opening pair. It has often been seen that one of the openers – Robin Uthappa or Gautam Gambhir – drops anchor and bats through the innings, while the rest of the batsmen play with freedom at the other end. Gambhir did that job to perfection in his team’s previous match against DD, when he scored a half-century and piloted his team’s run-chase.
Since beating a formidable Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad have lost two close matches at home – against Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils. RR pipped them at the post winning off the last ball of the match, while DD defended ten off the last over and won by four runs. SRH have competed – but they will be aware of the need to start getting points on the board quickly.
A lot rides on the shoulders of the two SRH openers – David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan. The two left-handers will be aware that their team’s batting order does not boast of as much ammunition and depth as some of the other sides and hence need to score big. They are the team’s top two run-getters at this stage and have made runs in every outing; but given the team’s results, they will know of the need to stay at the crease longer and convert the starts to fifties, fifties to big fifties or even post the three-figure scores.
KKR have played like champions, winning three of their four matches and are placed in the top half of the table. They were clinical in their previous outing against the Delhi Daredevils when they restricted the hosts to a modest 146 and chased down the runs without breaking a sweat.
KKR’s batting plans revolve around their opening pair. It has often been seen that one of the openers – Robin Uthappa or Gautam Gambhir – drops anchor and bats through the innings, while the rest of the batsmen play with freedom at the other end. Gambhir did that job to perfection in his team’s previous match against DD, when he scored a half-century and piloted his team’s run-chase.