The final two matches of the regular season in the Indian Premier League take place on Sunday with the playoff places still to be decided. Both matches are effectively knockout games for three of the sides involved with the first match of the day seeing the Kolkata Knight Riders hosting the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Sunrisers Hyderabad head into the match safe in the knowledge that they will be playing beyond the regular season but a win here will ensure they go into the qualifier and have two goes at making the final should they need it. Kolkata know if they win they are through. Lose and they face a bit of a sweat.
Kolkata Knight Riders
The Knight Riders were undone on one of the greenest wickets I’ve ever seen in their last match. Ironically the one time in this tournament they really needed Andre Russell’s bowling was the one time he wasn’t available because of injury.
The opening pair for Kolkata, who are relied on quite heavily to set a platform for the big hitters to build on, have started failing too often for comfort in recent times. If the Knight Riders are to regain the title then Gambhir and Uthappa simply have to find their form again.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
The Sunrisers went down off the final ball to Delhi last time out but they were their own worst enemies shelling some really simple catches in the field. Dave Warner won’t have been happy with that fielding effort although how hard he can be on his side remains to be seen given that he was guilty of a huge spill of his own.
A lack of runs in the middle order is starting to become a bit of an issue for the Sunrisers while there have just been a few signs that their solid bowling attack is just starting to run out of petrol and leak a few more runs than they would like to do.
Team news
It hasn’t been determined yet whether Andre Russell is fit to play in this match or not. Usually clues are given out in the training on the eve of the match but nothing has transpired which probably means he misses out. Colin Munro could come in for Jason Holder who was pretty ordinary last time out. Umesh Yadav has recovered from injury.
Sunrisers picked Eoin Morgan instead of Kane Williamson last time out but it didn’t really work so maybe they will head back to the Kiwi for this one. Ashish Nehra has now been ruled out of the rest of the tournament so Barinder Sran should keep his place in the side.
Form
Kolkata Knight Riders: WLWWWLLWWLWLL
Sunrisers Hyderabad: LLWWWLWWWWLWL
Head to head: Kolkata Knight Riders 5-2 Sunrisers Hyderabad
In Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders 3-0 Sunrisers Hyderabad
Eden Gardens
The mecca of cricket has been an up and down ground this season. We’ve seen some high scoring matches but then we’ve seen a couple of really abject batting performances. This is the final match on this ground this season so I’m wondering if we will get a fresh wicket as a result and indeed one of the better batting ones.
We know the ground is pretty small so if there is some pace in the track then I see no reason why the batsmen would not clear the ropes regularly although one thing which could stop them is the weather which is forecast to be terrible sadly.
Betting
Normally I like to offer up and have a bet in every match in this tournament but if I’m being honest I’ve not had the best of runs in the last week so I don’t really want to be taking on Duckworth Lewis and their baffling system, that is if we even get any play at all.
I’m already on Kolkata to win this match effectively as part of my outright punt on them before the tournament began so I have some interest in the match even without a bet here but I don’t want to go against the forecast so for the first time in the tournament, and hopefully the last time, I’ll have no bet here.
Tips
No bet
