Kolkata Knight Riders were one of my pre-tournament favourites, with a squad that I believe can win any match, at any ground in India. They are coming into this game with one win and one loss, playing Sunrisers Hyderabad, who are the current table toppers, with 2 consecutive wins. It’s going to be an interesting game of cricket.
Teams
SRH won their first game pretty comfortably, while their second game was very much like a roller-coaster, which kept twisting and turning. Finally, they managed a 1-wicket win, but the match revealed a lot of their weaknesses, in particular, a very weak middle and lower-middle order.
They played without their opening bowler and 2-time winner of IPL’s Purple Cap, Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He had a sore back and sat out for Sandeep Sharma, and the team may stay the same if he hasn’t regained full fitness. Sandeep did well for his 2/25 and while they have the most formidable bowling attack, their collapse from 136/5 to 137/9 doesn’t speak well about their batting abilities.
I’m expecting a couple of changes in the KKR camp as well. Rinku Singh has had a couple of bad outings so far, so they may want to consider bringing in the young Shubman Gill in his place. Also, Mitchell Johnson was out with a small niggle and he may fit back in for Tom Curran, who picked up 2 wickets but probably lost the game for KKR with his wayward bowling towards the end.
Overall
Not just that they have an extremely powerful squad, but KKR is also playing at home and they have quality spinners which may open up the SRH batting line up. I’m expecting a much lower total than KKR’s last score of 202 against CSK, but Kolkata to come out victorious in this game!
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My tips in IPL 2018 have been going great guns so far, with 7 out of 8 right so far, and waiting on the result of today’s first game between Mumbai and Delhi, where I’ve got my money firmly on the home team, Mumbai. Expect Chris Lynn to be a star in this game, with two games of him not performing so far.
