Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, Indian Premier League 2020, Today Match Prediction 26 Sep 2020

kkr vs srh Match Prediction & Analysis

It is the 8th game at the Indian Premier League 2020 and Kolkata Knight Riders would be up against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Abu Dhabi. Both these sides are coming into this contest having lost their previous games and would be under pressure. Knight Riders went down against the Mumbai Indians by a huge margin while Sunrisers lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore in a game that they should have won. 

The problems for Kolkata Knight Riders is the poor show from their batsmen which had haunted them since last season as their openers fail to provide the side with a good start. They will need to get over this problem to win this game. Hyderabad on the other hand has slightly better combination and it remains to be seen if KKR is able to overcome the odds and win this game.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Kolkata Knight Riders Preview

The problems from the last season came back to hurt Dinesh Karthik’s side in their opening game against Mumbai Indians where they suffered a crashing defeat. Poor bowling at the start and inability to build partnerships led to their 49-run defeat in the game. Karthik has to inspire confidence in his side and they will have to win this game to avoid staying at the bottom of the points table. 

Openers Shubman Gill and Sunil Narine went out cheaply in the last game and they will have to provide a good start. Eoin Morgan and Karthik played well and shall look forward to carrying their form into this game and build partnerships with Nitish Rana. In Andre Russell, Pat Cummins and Nikhil Nayak the side has good hitters at the bottom and they will like to take on Sunrisers Hyderabad’s bowling attack didn’t look at its best in the last game. 

Their bowlers had a bad day at the office in the last game conceding 195 runs. Shivam Mavi bowled well but the side would look for better show from Sandeep Warrier and Pat Cummins. The Aussie was wayward with his line in the last game. Narine did turn the ball in the last game but Kuldeep Yadav was taken apart and he will have to come up with a better show in this game.  

Top Batsmen – Eoin Morgan    
Top Bowler – Pat Cummins 

Kolkata Knight Riders Predicted Playing XI:

Dinesh Karthik (c & wk), Sunil Narine, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Nikhil Naik, Pat Cummins, Kuldeep Yadav, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi

Kolkata Knight Riders Actual Playing XI:

Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shubman Gill, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Pat Cummins, Nitish Rana, Shivam Mavi, Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Dinesh Karthik

Sunrisers Hyderabad Preview

It was a complete mess up from David Warner’s side in their opening game against Royal Challengers Bangalore which they ended up losing by 10 runs from a winning position. The side suffered a batting collapse to lose the last 9 wickets for mere 64 runs. Warner would like his side to put behind this disappointing loss and start afresh in the next game. 

Batting looks good at the top and the opening pair of Warner and Jonny Bairstow would look to provide a good start. Bairstow played well in the last game. Manish Pandey also looked in good form but the side would need a better hand from Priyam Garg and Vijay Shankar in the middle. With Abhishek Sharma and Rashid Khan to follow down the order they don’t quite have the firepower as other sides have and hence their top order will need to fire in this game. 

Their bowlers look in good form and it was a good show from Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the last game with the new ball. He will look to pick early wickets along with Sandeep Sharma. Billy Stanlake who is expected to play in this game will need to do well along with T Natarajan. The side would however look at Rashid Khan to pick wickets. He hasn’t enjoyed the best of form in the last year or so and need to do well as the team’s strike bowler. 

Top Batsmen – David Warner     
Top Bowler – Rashid Khan

Sunrisers Hyderabad Predicted Playing XI:

David Warner (c), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Manish Pandey, Priyam Garg, Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, Billy Stanlake, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan

Sunrisers Hyderabad Actual Playing XI:

Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan, Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, WP Saha, David Warner, Priyam Garg, Abhishek Sharma

PITCH AND WEATHER CONDITIONS

Weather Conditions

The conditions would be hot and humid at Abu Dhabi on September 26 with the skies being absolutely clear. Batsmen will enjoy the track as it is allowing them to play on the rise with negligible lateral movement off the surface. The side batting first would be happy with a score in excess of 175 runs which will be difficult to chase with tight bowling.   

Venue Details

Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi is a big ground and hitting the ball out of the park is always a challenge for the batsmen. But they enjoy the surface as the ball comes on to the bat nicely. There is early assistance for the fast bowlers here but not much with the old ball. The large dimension of the ground allows the spinners to toss the ball and they have had a good record here.

Toss: To Bowl

There would be dew in the later stage of the innings where it will be difficult for the bowlers to grip the ball. Most teams have preferred to chase scores here as batting becomes easy as the game progresses. We expect the skippers to go by the convention and opt to bowl first upon winning the toss.