Former champion Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will look to test its proven spin arsenal as it takes on last year’s runner-up Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL-12 at the Eden Gardens here on Sunday.
Sunrisers will be strengthened by the return of David Warner. The Australian guided Sunrisers to the title in 2016, but missed IPL-11 owing to a ban from international cricket following ‘Sandpapergate’.
Strong return
Warner scored a breezy century for his Sydney-based club Randy Petes to signal his return from the ban. However, the dampener for Sunrisers is the likelihood of skipper Kane Williamson missing the match with an injury.
Knight Riders enjoys the edge going by the overall history of rivalry between the two sides, having won nine of 15 meetings. But, Sunrisers will take heart from the fact that they have won the last two encounters at the Eden Gardens.
Sunrisers coach Tom Moody indicated the possibility of Williamson missing the match with vice-captain Bhuvneshwar Kumar taking up the mantle.
Bhuvneshwar will also be leading the pace department, while Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan will be looking to revive the three for 19 form that helped Sunrisers overturn Knights in Qualifier 2 last year.
The Eden Gardens pitch, which has “altered drastically” over the past few seasons, will prompt the team managements to put in some thought in picking their foreigners.
Host captain Dinesh Karthik will look to conserve the core of the team’s bowling attack led by West Indian off-spinner Sunil Narine. Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla complete the spin triumvirate on which the host pins its hopes.
Knight Riders have strengthened the side, roping in West Indian all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite to join the likes of Andre Russell, Chris Lynn and Lockie Ferguson.
Knight Riders captain Dinesh Karthik, meanwhile, put things in perspective, saying his priority at the moment was his team’s performance in the IPL.
“The most important thing for me is to do well for KKR and see the team doing well. I am sure the World Cup will take care of itself,” Karthik said.
The 33-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman made light of the talk about World Cup selection saying “the lesser I think about the World Cup, the better for me.”
Gameplan
On Rashid Khan he said, “He is a special bowler in T20s. We have a gameplan for him.”
Moody said the team was not too worried about Williamson as it was “not a long-term injury”.
Also, Williamson had been retained skipper despite Warner’s return on the basis of this international standing, someone “who is admired globally and also did well with us last year.”
Team (from):
Kolkata Knight Riders: Dinesh Karthik (c), Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn, Shubman Gill, Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite, Sunil Narine, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Nikhil Naik, Joe Denly, Shrikant Mundhe, Nitish Rana, Sandeep Warrier, Prasidh Krishna, Lockie Ferguson, Harry Gurney, KC Cariappa and Yarra Prithviraj.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Willilamson (c), Manish Pandey, Martin Guptill, Ricky Bhui, David Warner, Deepak Hooda, Mohammad Nabi, Yusuf Pathan, Shakib Al Hasan, Abhishek Sharma, Vijay Shankar, Sreevats Gowsami, Jonny Bairstow, Wriddhiman Saha, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, Basil Thampi, Billy Stanlake, T Natarajan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem.
Match starts: 4 pm.
