Sunrisers Hyderabad take on Kolkata Knight Riders in match 3 of IPL 2021 in Chennai on Sunday. This will be the second match at this venue in the first three days of the season. Out of the 56 league matches, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata & Bengaluru will host 10 matches each while Ahmedabad and Delhi will host 8 matches each. SRH finished third in the points table last season while KKR finished fifth. More about match 3 preview in detail below.
Kolkata Knight Riders are starting at a venue where they have not enjoyed consistent success. However, the side has a good mix of youth and experience in the squad, which will be of immense value in the season. They have packed their side with reputed spinners. Harbhajan Singh and Shakib Al Hasan were two impressive buys for the franchise in the auctions. Coupled with Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarty, the four of them make an exciting package.
The KKR batting will rest heavily on the shoulders of Shubman Gill, Eoin Morgan and Dinesh Karthik. Andre Russell had a forgetful IPL season six months back ad he would like to correct that one. Also, they are stating against a side, they have had good success in the past.
Sunrisers Hyderabad, on the other hand, have matchwinners themselves. David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rashid Khan form the core of the side. The return of Bhuvi, who pulled out midway through the last season due to injury is a huge bonus. The availability of Kane Williamson in the squad is also a huge advantage for the side.
They bought the fewest number of players in the IPL 2021 player auction. Kedar Jadhav and Mujeeb-Ur Rahman were the key buys and both might start the game for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Both the Afghan spinners bowling in tandem will be an exciting prospect against the KKR big-hitters like Morgan, Narine and Russell.
Once again the batting of the side rests heavily on its foreign players while the bowling attack looks a bit more settled with impressive options for the side.
Hyderabad reached the semifinals of IPL 2020 and would like to ideally win the cup for the second time this season. They too have the experience in the side to pull off the feat.
Also Read: IPL Logo Secretly Designed On AB De Villiers: Virender Sehwag
Head To Head: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad
Matches Played-19
KKR Won-12
SRH Won- 7
Pitch & Weather Conditions
The conditions for the game will be hot and humid with the temperatures in the higher 30s, with no chance of rain. If the first game between MI and RCB is anything to go by, the match will see a score between 160-170 with batting getting difficult in the second half as explained by AB De Villiers himself. Both sides have good spinners in their ranks and spin to win might be the mantra for the teams. Change of pace and cutters from the pacers will be a good option as well.
Team News For IPL 2021, Match 3
There are no injury concerns in both camps. All their players are fit and available. The sides will choose the best possible playing XIs for the first game. Both teams have enough options and good bench strength as well.
Squads
Sunrisers Hyderabad
David Warner (c), Kane Williamson, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Manish Pandey, Sreevats Goswami (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Priyam Garg, Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, Abdul Samad, Virat Singh, Mitchell Marsh, Jason Holder, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T. Natarajan, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddarth Kaul, Basil Thampi, Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman, Kedar Jadhav, Jagdish Suchit
Kolkata Knight Riders
Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Tim Seifert (wk), Rahul Tripathi, Rinku Singh, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Eoin Morgan (c), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun CV, Kuldeep Yadav, Pat Cummins, Lockie Ferguson, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Sandeep Warrier, Prasidh Krishna, Shakib Al Hasan, Sheldon Jackson, Vaibhav Arora, Karun Nair, Harbhajan Singh, Ben Cutting, Venkatesh Iyer, Pawan Negi
