IPL 2018: Qualifier 2, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad - Toss Report

Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and decided to field first against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the second Qualifier of the Indian Premier League at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

Here is what the captains said:

Dinesh Karthik:

“We will bowl first. We would like to chase down the target. We fought hard, we came back hard and we finally won the game. Just one change for us, Shivam Mavi replaces Javon Searles.”

Kane Williamson:

“Looks like a good surface, we need to put the runs on the board and defend it. We need to move on and put our best efdfort. We have three changes, Hooda, Saha and Khaleel are in, Manish Pandey, Sreevats Goswami and Sandeep Sharma are out.”

Preview:

The second qualifier will be contested by two teams who have had contrasting fortunes in the last few games. The Sunrisers’ form has taken a beating lately. They blew away almost every opposition to become the first team to qualify for this year’s playoffs. They won nine of their opening 11 games to make it to the last four.

However, since then it has been a downward journey for them. They ended the league phase with three losses on the trot. It was the worst kind of momentum they would have wanted ahead of the playoffs. And their wretched run continued in the playoffs too as Chennai Super Kings beat them by two wickets in a thrilling first Qualifier.

On the other hand, the Knight Riders have been in fine form of late. They made it to the playoffs with three wins on the trot with the last one coming against the Sunrisers. In the Eliminator, they thrashed Rajasthan Royals (RR) to set up a date with the Sunrisers.

With the form on their side, Knight Riders start the game as favourites. However, everyone knows the threat possessed by Sunrisers and if they can get back their mojo, the game can turn out to be an exciting one.

Playing elevens:

Kolkata Knight Riders:

Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik(w/c), Shubman Gill, Andre Russell, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Shivam Mavi

Sunrisers Hyderabad:

Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson(c), Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Deepak Hooda, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Carlos Brathwaite, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, Siddarth Kaul, K Khaleel Ahmed