The Kolkata Knight Riders are a dominant team at home, and they will have their eyes set on another victory. KKR prepare to host defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad at Eden Gardens in Kolkata in Match 14 of IPL 2017 on Saturday.
The match is expected to produce some brilliant contests between the bat and the ball. The relaid surface in Kolkata has something exciting for fast blowers, and the ball comes onto the bat quite nicely for strokemakers as well.
KKR played some brilliant cricket in their first home game against Kings XI Punjab, as their players looked good in the batting and bowling departments, though their fielding looked below par. Coming to SRH, after beating RCB and Gujarat Lions, they lost to Mumbai Indians in their last match. So the David Warner-led side will be eager to get back to their winnings ways against a confident home side of KKR, which makes the contest even more thrilling.
Both the teams are fairly well balanced, with good strength in their batting and bowling departments. Since the pitch has something for the fast bowlers, SRH should be pleased, as Ashish Nehra and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have the special ability to make the ball talk in such conditions.
Even KKR have quality seamers like Umesh Yadav, Trent Boult and Chris Woakes, who will all make good use of the pitch.
Their contest between the bat and ball will be an interesting watch, with KKR batsmen like Gautam Gambhir and Manish Pandey in good form while SRH stars such as David Warner, Yuvraj Singh and Shikhar Dhawan have also been amassing runs in IPL 2017.
There is hardly anything to choose from between the two teams, and being consistent for 40 overs is going to play an important role in the outcome of the match.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) schedule
Date: Saturday, 15 April
Time: 4 pm IST (12:30 am GMT)
Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata
TV listings: India: TV:Sony Six, Sony Six HD, Sony Max (Hindi), Sony ESPN and Sony ESPN HD (Telugu, Tamil, Bengali). UK: TV: Sky Sports. USA: TV: Willow TV. Middle East: TV: OSN Sports Cricket HD.
