KRR unleashed their spin trio – Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav and Shakib Al Hasan – on SRH, and their batters seemed to have no clue on how to counter them
Kolkata Knight Riders will start as overwhelming favourites when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL eliminator in New Delhi on Wednesday. There's a lot riding on this match, for the loser will crash out of the tournament.
Going by form and past record, KKR have a definite edge over the David Warner-led side, having beaten them both times in the league stage. The two teams met just three days ago, with KKR having to beat SRH to make it to the playoffs. Beat them they did, and convincingly at that.
KRR unleashed their spin trio – Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav and Shakib Al Hasan – on SRH, and their batters seemed to have no clue on how to counter them. And, more importantly, their over-reliance on skipper Warner to fire with the bat was exposed majorly in that game.
Not only KKR spinners, SRH will also have to reverse the momentum if they are to entertain thoughts of entering the final. Having got themselves into a great position after 12 games, SRH let go off a big opportunity to finish in the top two of the standings by losing their last two league games, against Delhi Daredevils and KKR, respectively. Momentum is a big word in IPL, especially going into the playoffs, and SRH will have to find a way to overturn their losing trend.
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They will have a big chance of doing that if Warner fires. The Australian has been quite brilliant this season, scoring 658 runs from 14 games to be after Virat Kohli in the top run-scorers' charts this season. His captaincy has also been imaginative, and the way he rotates his four pace bowlers is quite commendable including the way he has used the wily Mustafizur Rahman at the death.
But his rival skipper has also been inspirational in many ways. Gautam Gambhir may not have got the quantity of runs that Warner has, but he has forged many a crucial partnerships with Robin Uthappa at the top. And while Warner has worked wonders with his fast bowlers, Gambhir has done the same with his spinners, not afraid to pick a young chinaman bowler in Yadav at the expense of the more experienced Piyush Chawla to surprise the SRH batsmen in their last encounter.
However, the Ferozeshah Kotla deck has been flatter than usual in this IPL season, which should give hope to SRH that they can counter the KKR spin threat. But for that, each of their batsman will have to step up, and not just leave it to Warner to do the bulk of the scoring. The likes of Shikhar Dhawan – who has been in good form himself – Yuvraj Singh, Kane Williamson, Naman Ojha and Deepak Hooda will have to make useful contributions.
As for the Knights, they have always found someone standing up and delivering on various occasions throughout the season with the bat, be it Yusuf Pathan or Manish Pandey or Uthappa or Al Hasan. Their bowling attack is one of the most reliable among all teams.
They are a well-oiled unit, but SRH have quality match-winners. Who will go home?
BLAST FROM THE PAST
Here's what happened when these two teams met in the league stage...
Gambhir leads from front
April 16 (In Hyderabad)
SRH were on a losing streak in the initial stages of the IPL, and KKR pounced on that. Umesh Yadav and Morne Morkel took five wickets between them to restrict SRH to 142/7. Gautam Gambhir then blasted a magnificent unbeaten 90 to take his team home with ease. Brief scores: SRH 142/7 in 20 overs (E Morgan 51, N Ojha 37; U Yadav 3/28, M Morkel 2/35) lost to KKR 146/2 in 18.2 overs (G Gmabhir 90*, R Uthappa 38) by eight wickets
KKR spin a web around SRH
May 22 (In Kolkata)
Needing a win to qualify for the playoffs, KKR unleashed their spinners on SRH and succeeded. After notching up 171 thanks to Yusuf Pathan's 52*, Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav spun a web around the SRH batsmen to emerge victorious by 22 runs.
Brief scores: KKR 171/6 in 20 overs (Y Pathan 52*, M Pandey 48; D Hooda 2/16, B Kumar 2/31) bt SRH 149/8 in 20 overs (S Dhawan 51; S Narine 3/26, K yadav 2/28) by 22 runs
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