No Andre Russell, no worries. No Chris Lynn, the winning train will remain on track. The Kolkata Knight Riders have done brilliantly so far to overcome the losses to key players in IPL 2017, and the former champions will look to continue that strong form when they host the current champs the Sunrisers Hyderabad in a blockbuster Indian Premier League contest at the Eden Gardens on Saturday.
If not for a last-couple-of-overs meltdown with the ball against the Mumbai Indians, KKR would head into this match with three wins from three matches, but, despite that, Gautam Gambhir's side will be pretty satisfied with the start to the season.
Predictions of KKR vs SRH IPL 2017 Match 14
The two wins have been quite emphatic, with their batsmen at the top doing the business.
KKR started IPL 2017 with Lynn opening the innings with Gambhir, and after the Australian injured his shoulder against MI, Sunil Narine was, surprisingly, sent in as opener.
That is unlikely to happen in this match, with Robin Uthappa expected to open the innings with the KKR captain, but it will be interesting to see who the Knight Riders pick as the overseas all-rounder option in the team.
Colin de Granhomme got the nod in the win over the Kings XI Punjab, but Shakib Al Hasan is a strong contender to play his first IPL 2017 game, with Rovman Powell also an option.
KKR will be a little worried about the form of their pace bowler Trent Boult, who has gone at over ten runs an over this season. However, that economy rate doesn't tell the whole story, with the New Zealander quite lucky to see catches dropped off his bowling time and again in the Indian Premier League this campaign.
Nathan Coulter-Nile is on the bench for KKR, so the Australian could come in for Boult, although it's likely the latter will get another opportunity.
Piyush Chawla was preferred to Kuldeep Yadav for the match against KXIP, but having conceded 35 runs in his three-overs, the left-arm bowler could walk back into the playing XI.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad had a game to forget last time out, with the Mumbai Indians running over them at the Wankhede. That was their first defeat of IPL 2017, so SRH will be keen to bounce back.
However, their record at the Eden Gardens is poor and they do need to sort out their brittle middle order – Yuvraj Singh is the crucial batsman for SRH, and the left-hander needs to fire more often than not.
Moises Henriques missed the Mumbai Indians defeat through illness but is expected to be available for this KKR match. However, David Warner, Tom Moody and VVS Laxman will have a difficult decision to make over the four overseas players.
Rashid Khan has been brilliant, so he should keep his place in the playing XI.
Warner, of course, will play.
Mustafizur Rahman did not have the greatest of returns in his first game, but he deserves his place, considering his brilliance with the ball in IPL 2016.
Ben Cutting has been a solid all-rounder option.
Out of those, Cutting is the one likely to miss out, if Henriques is brought back in.
Vijay Shankar could not make an impact with the bat against MI, and Bipul Sharma could return to the playing XI, but SRH might want to stick with the former, just to strengthen their batting a little bit more.
Confirmed playing XI:
KKR: Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Suryakumar Yadav, Colin de Granhomme, Chris Woakes, Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Trent Boult.
SRH: Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner, Moises Henriques, Yuvraj Singh, Deepak Hooda, Ben Cutting, Naman Ojha, Bipul Sharma, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra.
