KKR vs SRH: Wasim Jaffer exposes KKR and SRH's fatal flaws ahead of high-stakes IPL 2024 Qualifier 1

Former India National Cricket Team batsman Wasim Jaffer has uncovered the critical flaws of the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ahead of their Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024) Qualifier 1 clash.

The high-voltage showdown between the former IPL champions is set to take place on Tuesday, May 21, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. It is not a do-or-die game for KKR and SRH as the losing team will get one more chance to qualify for the final. However, neither team wants to be in that situation as a defeat will put them under pressure.

Kolkata Knight Riders will be entering the match with a dominant head-to-head record of 17-9 against Sunrisers Hyderabad and they will be looking forward to extending it. However, the thing that goes against KKR is that they haven't played any match since May 11 as their last two matches against Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals were washed out due to rain.

Talking about Sunrisers Hyderabad, they chased down a total of 215 in their previous match against Punjab Kings to further establish their dominance with the bat in IPL 2024. To win the match against KKR, SRH batters will once again need to put up a big score on the board because the bowling unit of the team has leaked a lot of runs throughout the competition.

Ahead of the mouthwatering match, Wasim Jaffer previewed the clash during an interaction with ESPNcricinfo and highlighted the major flaws in both teams. Wasim Jaffer opined that the bowling unit is the biggest weakness of SRH and the absence of Jaydev Unadkat makes things tougher for them. He suggested the side to include Unadkat in the playing XI by replacing him with Sanvir Singh, who hasn't been used well by the team.

"I feel Sunrisers [Hyderabad] will have to add a fast bowler to their bowling lineup. In their previous, Shahbaz Ahmed and Nitish Reddy proved expensive. Sanvir is not being used a lot as a batter. So, I think they should find a place for [Jaydev] Unadkat. The pitch will be good (to bat), you need bowling options. This is one thing that SRH can do in Qualifier 1," Jaffer told ESPNCricinfo.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz will be slightly rusty - Wasim Jaffer

The legendary domestic cricket batsman further shifted his focus towards Kolkata Knight Riders and said that the absence of the explosive opening batsman Phil Salt would hurt the team very badly.

Notably, Phil Salt is part of the England contingent that left IPL 2024 midway for international duties as the Three Lions are set to play a home series against the Pakistan National Cricket Team ahead of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024.

Phil Salt is most likely to be replaced at the top of the order at the Kolkata Knight Riders by Afghanistan star Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who did a good job for the team last year.

According to Wasim Jaffer, Rahmanullah Gurbaz doesn't have enough game time under his belt and he would be rusty in the playoffs, which is not a good piece of news for the two-time IPL champions.

"Rahmanullah Gurbaz will be slightly rusty. He will miss game time. A couple of innings would’ve been better for Gurbaz before the playoffs. He has not played for a long time and will replace in-form Phil Salt as wicketkeeper-batter and opener. The Knight Riders’ batters have also not played for nearly 10 days," Jaffer added.