In today’s crucial match, two struggling teams from the lower half of the points table will face off to keep their respective teams in the game. The Kolkata Knight Riders must win every game to reach the safe 16-point mark, while the Sunrisers Hyderabad have an extra game in hand and home advantage, but only six points.
Both teams have struggled with their opening combinations, with KKR trying out six pairs and the Sunrisers shuffling Harry Brook and Abhishek Sharma around. Brook will have fond memories of hitting a hundred against KKR earlier in the season, but since then he has struggled with the bat. KKR is hoping for a good start from their openers, with Jason Roy's return potentially injecting positivity. Andre Russell has yet to showcase his destructive potential. In matches like these, where both teams have very little to lose, there is often a sense of freedom that can make for a thrilling contest.
The upcoming cricket match will be played between Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KOL).
The match is scheduled to take place on Thursday, 4th May 2023.
The match will begin at 7:30 PM Indian Standard Time (IST) or 2:00 PM Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
The match will be played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, India.
The stadium is a popular venue for cricket matches and has hosted many high-profile games in the past.
The stadium has a seating capacity of over 55,000 people, and it is known for its modern facilities and excellent pitch conditions.
As the match is being played in Hyderabad, the home team Sunrisers Hyderabad may have a slight advantage over Kolkata Knight Riders.
Hamstring injuries have been a recurring issue for both teams. Umesh Yadav remains sidelined for KKR, while Sunrisers Hyderabad is missing Washington Sundar, who is at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru for treatment. However, neither team has any other injury worries. KKR has brought in Johnson Charles from the West Indies to replace Litton Das.
Kolkata and Hyderabad have faced each other in a total of 24 matches, and Kolkata has had the upper hand in this rivalry. Kolkata has emerged victorious in 15 out of the 24 games played, whereas Hyderabad has managed to win only 9 matches. These numbers indicate that Kolkata has had a more successful record in this fixture, but it is also worth noting that cricket is a game that is unpredictable and can be influenced by several factors, such as the form of the players, weather conditions, and the pitch conditions. Therefore, it remains to be seen which team will come out on top in their next encounter.
Captain: André Russell
Vice-captain: Aiden Markram
Wicketkeepers: Heinrich Klaasen, Rahmanullah Gurbaz
Batters: Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh
All-rounders: Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Aiden Markram
Bowlers: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, Varun Chakravarthy
Sunrisers Hyderabad may continue with their strategy from the last match, where they used T. Natarajan as an extra seamer and replaced him with Abdul Samad during the batting innings. Jason Roy is expected to return to open with Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who will probably take over the wicketkeeping duties from N. Jagadeesan. Jagadeesan may be replaced by either Harshit Rana or Vaibhav Arora when they bowl.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (probable XII): 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Aiden Markram (capt), 5 Harry Brook, 6 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 7 Abdul Samad, 8 Akeal Hosein, 9 Mayank Markande, 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Umran Malik, 12 T Natarajan
Kolkata Knight Riders (probable XII): 1 Jason Roy, 2 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 3 N Jagadeesan/Mandeep Singh, 4 Venkatesh Iyer, 5 Nitish Rana, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Sunil Narine, 10 Harshit Rana, 11 Varun Chakravarthy, 12 Vaibhav Arora
The weather conditions in Hyderabad over the past few days have been characterized by intermittent showers, with cloudy skies expected to continue on Thursday. As a result, the pitch that has been under the covers for most of the build-up to the game may have some moisture that could benefit fast bowlers. Despite this, spinners have been slightly more successful at this venue this season, with an economy rate of 7.70 and a strike rate of 19.3, compared to 8.18 and 19.7 respectively for fast bowlers. While these statistics suggest that spinners may have an advantage, other factors such as weather conditions, pitch conditions, and the form of the players on the day of the match could all play a significant role in determining the outcome.
