In an intriguing move at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Pat Cummins, captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), chose to bat first in their final match of the season against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). It’s noteworthy because captains at this venue this season have previously opted to bowl first. Cummins expressed confidence in the pitch’s batting conditions and aims to conclude SRH’s season with consistent performances. SRH retained the same line-up from their win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane revealed he’d have chosen to bowl first anyway, as the last two matches at this ground were comfortably won by teams batting second. This game marks KKR’s return after a loss to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on 7th May, following the unfortunate washout of their 17th May match against RCB—a match that was to be their finale for the season. “The statistics favoured bowling first here, and that was our preference,” said Rahane.
Following team injuries earlier in the tournament, Manish Pandey keeps his place in the KKR playing XI, while Angkrish Raghuvanshi is earmarked as their key impact player. In a strategic adjustment, Quinton de Kock comes in to replace Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
For SRH, Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, and the talented Ishan Kishan form the top order, aiming to set a solid foundation. Pat Cummins leads the team with Harshal Patel spearheading their bowling attack.
On the other hand, KKR will look to their experienced players like Andre Russell and Rinku Singh to anchor their innings, with Varun Chakravarthy expected to lead the bowling efforts.
Sunrisers Hyderabad XI: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Heinrich Klaasen (VC), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Aniket Verma, Abhinav Manohar, Pat Cummins (capt), Harshal Patel, Eshan Malinga, Jaydev Unadkat. Impact Subs: Mohammad Shami, Harsh Dubey, Sachin Baby, Zeeshan Ansari, Simarjeet Singh.
Kolkata Knight Riders XI: Quinton de Kock (wk), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Anrich Nortje, Varun Chakravarthy. Impact subs: Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Spencer Johnson, Luvnith Sisodia.
Sreshth Shah, a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo, discusses the match dynamics further on the ESPNcricinfo App.
