IPL 2021, Match 3: SunRisers Hyderabad vs Kolkata Knight Riders (SRH vs KKR) - Match Preview And Prediction

In the third match of the IPL 2021, SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will compete against each other at MA Chidambaram Stadium (Chepauk, Chennai) this Sunday (11th April) night.

Both teams will start their journey in the IPL 2021 with this forthcoming match. In the IPL 2020, while SRH were the third-best team, the fifth-positioned KKR just missed out on the playoffs spot.

IPL 2021, Match 3: SunRisers Hyderabad vs Kolkata Knight Riders (SRH vs KKR) – Match Preview

SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH)

The 2016 IPL winners SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) are ready to start their new IPL season, who advanced to the playoffs in all the last five seasons, including playing two finals.

England cricketer Jason Roy, who replaced Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh for the IPL 2021, is likely to be unavailable for SRH for the first two matches. However, it is unlikely to affect the main team set up as they have overseas cricketers like skipper David Warner, in-form cricketers like Kane Williamson, Jonny Bairstow, Rashid Khan, Jason Holder etc. Even other Afghanistan cricketers Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman may also have to wait for getting an opportunity in this IPL season.

Once again the middle-order batting will be the key point for SRH as it has disturbed the team in recent years. So, the team management needs to find out a stronger solution to this issue as soon as possible. For this slot, they have the options like Vijay Shankar, Abdul Samad apart from Caribbean cricketer Jason Holder.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has returned to the SRH side whom they hugely missed in the IPL 2020 as the Indian pacer missed out on many matches due to injury. Apart from Bhuvneshwar and Rashid Khan, SRH also have the bowlers like Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddharth Kaul, T Natarajan etc. And obviously, we shouldn’t forget Holder’s performance in the IPL 2020 where he collected 14 wickets in only seven matches.

Full Squad

David Warner (C), Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Priyam Garg, Virat Singh, Jonny Bairstow, Wriddhiman Saha, Shreevats Goswami, Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Jason Roy, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddharth Kaul, Basil Thampi, Shahbaz Nadeem, Kedar Jadhav, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Jagadeesha Suchith.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

The 2012 and 2014 IPL winners Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) just missed out on playoffs in the last two seasons due to their lower run rate. KKR need to perform in little more consistency to get far better results in the IPL 2021.

Captain Eoin Morgan is ready to take the full season charge of KKR, who led the team in the last seven games of the IPL 2020, where KKR won three matches including one Super Over victory. However, everyone has a strong belief in this successful limited-overs international captain.

KKR have some issues in playing XI, and the choice of the opening batting is one of their major headaches in the last few years. It will be interesting to see who will open with Shubman Gill for KKR in their first game of this IPL 2021.

Not only skipper Morgan, the forms of Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shakib Al Hasan and Pat Cummins are also going to be crucial for the team. Among the Indians, they have players like Dinesh Karthik, Nitish Rana, Harbhajan Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Shivam Mavi etc.

Full Squad

Eoin Morgan (C), Dinesh Karthik, Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Gurkeerat Singh, Rahul Tripathi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell, Tim Seifert, Sunil Narine, Shakib Al Hasan, Sheldon Jackson, Harbhajan Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Karun Nair, Ben Cutting, Venkatesh Iyer, Pawan Negi

IPL 2021, Match 3: SunRisers Hyderabad vs Kolkata Knight Riders (SRH vs KKR) – Match Prediction

Just like other initial matches of this IPL 2021, there is no strong favourite ahead of this upcoming match. But talking about their head-to-head records, while KKR have the better head-to-head records (12-7), they won both the IPL 2020 matches against SRH, including winning the last one in the Super Over contest.