The clash between the high-flying Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and the unpredictable Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Qualifier 1 promises a showdown of power-hitting strategies. KKR secured their playoff spot first this season, while SRH boosted their campaign by defeating Punjab Kings to clinch second place with 17 points, edging out Rajasthan Royals.

Despite both teams enjoying some downtime due to rain interruptions in their recent matches, the quick turnaround for the high-intensity playoff presents a unique challenge. With only a day’s rest after featuring in the final league round matches on Sunday, both teams face the task of traversing thousands of kilometers to compete.

SRH, buoyed by their recent win against PBKS, may feel they’ve hit their stride, unlike KKR, whose last complete game was on May 11 before rain washed away their subsequent matches. Additionally, KKR faces the challenge of filling the void left by Phil Salt, their second-highest run-scorer and wicketkeeper, who departed for national duties with England.

KKR’s partnership between Salt and Sunil Narine at the top has been formidable, complemented by a potent middle-order. However, their recent washed-out contest against RR deprived them of the opportunity to test expected replacement Rahmanullah Gurbaz alongside Narine.

While SRH mirrors KKR’s firepower on paper, their aggressive batting, led by Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, adds to the intrigue of the contest. Head, particularly, has been instrumental, redefining aggressiveness with his fearless approach, supported by Abhishek’s explosive batting.

SRH has addressed lingering concerns, with Rahul Tripathi solidifying the No 3 position and Heinrich Klaasen rediscovering his form, making them a formidable unit.

The venue at Ahmedabad, known for favoring teams batting second, may influence the strategy, with bowlers likely to have a say. KKR boasts a strong spin battery alongside their pace attack, led by Mitchell Starc, while SRH relies on their pace bowlers, spearheaded by skipper Pat Cummins.

In their previous encounter this season, KKR edged past SRH in a high-scoring game. With both teams stacked with talent, the clash promises to be a thrilling encounter.

Teams (from):

Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer (c), KS Bharat (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Allah Ghazanfar.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Aiden Markram, Abdul Samad, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik, Anmolpreet Singh, Glenn Phillips (wk), Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Upendra Yadav (wk), Jhathavedh Subramanyan, Sanvir Singh, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Marco Jansen, Akash Maharaj Singh, Mayank Agarwal.