The first double-header day of the 2024 season will see PBKS taking on DC in the afternoon game and later on Kolkata will be hosting Hyderabad at the Eden Gardens.
Two former champions who have failed to qualify for the playoffs for the past two years, fans of both KKR and SRH look optimistic with the squad their teams have pieced together. Both teams broke the all-time auction record to obtain two of the finest Ozzie Pacers and will hope that they will contribute to bringing their franchises back to winning ways.
Team Preview
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Obtaining the wooden spoon in 2 out of the last 3 seasons, SRH has had a fall from grace ever since the Warner fiasco. Consistent playoff finishes are now replaced with battles to avoid the last spot, and one of the major contributors to this change is arguably the fickle nature of the SRH management.
Continuing this approach, SRH replaced Markram, who led the Sunrisers franchise, to back-to-back SA20 titles with Pat Perfect Cummins as the captain of the team. Cummins has had a terrific 2023 from a professional perspective, though his T20 credentials aren’t as mighty as his exploits in the longer formats. Neither have his returns been special with the bowl, averaging over 30 across 42 IPL matches. He has had impactful cameos with them though and SRH would be hoping Cummins can provide help in all 3 departments.
SRH has built arguably the strongest foreign contingent for this season and are gonna be a pleasant problem of plenty during selection, though the same can’t be said for their Indian players.
Most of them are out of form like Mayank and Tripathi or they seem to be past their prime, such as Bhuvneshwar and Natarajan. Abhishek Sharma has been one of the rare consistent performers for SRH over the past couple of years and it’s important for Hyderabad that he carries his domestic form in the IPL.
Kolkata Knight Riders
2023 has been a year of homecoming for KKR, with franchise legend Gambhir coming back, this time in the role of a mentor and Starc returning to finish his unstarted work. 24.75 crore is massive for any player, let alone Mitchell Starc, who has last played in T20 leagues in 2015, and he is also someone whose recent T20I form is nothing to ape about either. But the pace department has been an issue for KKR for some time and was only amplified last year. Gambhir and Co. will pray that their rating of Starc as the best available pacer in the 2024 auction proves to be correct on the field.
Talking about returns, Shreyas Iyer will retain his Captaincy after missing the entire 2023 season. Being left out of the BCCI central contract, Iyer has a lot to prove. Possessing a deadly spin trio like the KKR sides of the past, hopes are high that Kolkata will relieve the glory of the past in this nostalgia-aided campaign.
Probable Playing XI
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Rahul Tripathi, Anmolpreet Singh, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Abdul Samad, Washington Sundar, Marco Jansen, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan
Impact Player: Mayank Markande
As said, SRH has a problem of plenty when it comes to their foreign picks. Hasaranga being unavailable for the first few matches simplifies things, but still, the thought of Markram and Phillips not making it into a T20 XI in a 10-team tournament is unsettling. Cummins and Klaasen have their spot fixed. A lot depends upon what combination SRH will prefer, but given their thin bowling, SRH may look to strengthen it with Jansen. Now I personally would pick both Phillips and Markram over Head, but given their top order woes in the recent past and Head’s price tag, the World Cup hero might get the initial nod.
They have other promising young batters such as Sanvir Singh and it will be a tossup between them and Anmolpreet and pace sensation Umran may be given a 2nd chance.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Phil Salt (wk), KS Bharath, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarty
Impact Player: Suyash Sharma
Roy getting ruled out seems to be a blessing in disguise since KKR has now acquired the explosive Phil Salt. Barring a terrible SA20, Salt has been terrific in the t20s since 2023, striking at 159.2 in the t20s and 169.1 in the T20Is. It’s safe to say he will play over Gurbaz.
On the other hand, it’s a 3-way battle between Bharath, Pandey and Ramandeep to make it into the XI. Bharath might get a nod due to his superior keeping skills, though Ramandeep is the choice I would personally go with.
A 3-way battle is also between Vaibhav Arora, Harshit and Chetan Sakariya. KKR management might also drop Suyash Sharma to accommodate one extra pacer.
Pitch Report
Eden Gardens is all set to host the 3rd match of IPL 2024. The Eden track was a batting paradise in the previous season, possessing an average first-innings score of 193.143 in IPL 2023. However, things returned to normalcy in the 2023 World Cup, with the first innings average standing at 254. More importantly, it seemed to resemble the dustbowls of old Eden. In matches such as India vs South Africa and the first semi-final, the pitches were tailor-made for spinners.
Being close to the river Hooghly, Dew is expected to play a big role on the 23rd, so expect the toss winner to chase.
Players To Watch Out For
Heinrich Klaasen
Arguably the best t20 batsman currently, Klaasen would look to pick off from right where he left off in IPL 2023. Scoring 448 runs @49.78 with a massive strike rate of 177.08, Klaasen was one of the positives for SRH last year.
He scored 1035 runs across all t20s in 2023 while having the 2nd highest strike rate amongst the top 150 run-getters and is striking at a ridiculous rate (even by his standards) of 205 in the ongoing year.
With his terrific strokeplay against spinners, Klaasen against the KKR spinners in the middle overs might be the most crucial battle of the match, but don’t be surprised if the following player gets him out.
Varun Chakravarty
A mystery bowler who seemed to be another flash in the pan, Varun’s career took off after his first season with KKR in 2020. Soon, the Indian National call came and everything looked set. But after a lukewarm WT20 and terrible IPL 2022, it seemed as if Varun’s career was to be short-lived as the majority of preceding mystery spinners.
Well, as a phoenix rises out of its ashes, Varun shone brightly in the IPL 2023. Bowling in all 3 phases of the game, Varun was arguably KKR’s best player. He has only grown from strength to strength in the domestic arena, and KKR will hope he makes full use of the 2023 Eden pitch.
KKR vs SRH Dream11 Team for Match 3 of 2023 IPL
Note: This is not our final Dream11 Team as we are not aware of the Toss Result/Final Playing XI of both teams at this moment.
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