Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders clash in a league match at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Wednesday night with the specific objective of finding the desired consistency in all departments of the game.
The home team should be better off in terms of confidence after scoring an impressive win against Delhi Capitals in the last away game while Kolkata should be sulking in the face of a seven-wicket defeat against Gujarat Titans at home in its last match.
It will be interesting to see whether the Sunrisers’ think-tank sticks to southpaw Abhishek Sharma, after his breezy half-century against Delhi, as an opener.
Apparently, the dangerous Harry Brook is struggling after a quickfire century earlier in the league and moved to No. 5 in the last game. He has to regain his wonted touch.
It is imperative for Sunrisers to see the likes of Rahul Tripathi, even captain Aiden Markram to score big at the top and give the kind of liberty for the free-stroking wicketkeeper batter Heinrich Klaasen to go all out in the death overs.
Even the once formidable bowling attack of Sunrisers seems to be struggling to get the act together under pressure. Leggie Mayank Markande has been impressive so far but needs the pacers to strike early to control the pace of the game.
On the other hand, captain Nitish Rana should lead from the front if Kolkata is to look for the badly-needed win and opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz who played a brilliant knock against Gujarat, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh and the big-hitting Andre Russel have to up the ante to let the bowlers have a chance to dictate terms.
Spinner Varun Chakravarthy has been the lead performer with the ball for Knight Riders but the inconsistency of the other bowlers is definitely a concern for Knight Riders.
So, when Knight Riders, with six points from nine games, and Sunrisers with six from eight matches, meet tomorrow it might be a contest between the equals.
Match starts at 7.30 pm.
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