The second half of the double header in the Indian Premier League on Sunday is a huge one for the Kolkata Knight Riders. Their IPL 2021 season hangs in the balance as they take on the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Dubai.
The Knight Riders have their destiny in their own hands and know that if they win their final two matches they will be in the playoffs barring a huge win from someone else elsewhere. Sunrisers have been out of qualifying contention for a while now and will be looking to spoil another party.
Kolkata Knight Riders
The Kolkata Knight Riders have looked one of the better teams in the UAE leg of the season but after losing to the Punjab Kings in their last outing they are now only 3-2 for this spell of the campaign. That needs to end 5-2 for them to be assured of a spot in the playoffs so there is no shortage of pressure on Eoin Morgan and his men. The loss to the Punjab Kings threw up a few more issues than the Knight Riders would have liked too.
They have gotten away with the lack of form from Morgan while they were winning matches but unless he finds form soon something might have to give there. They are also missing a couple of key bowlers and that found them out in that defeat to the Kings. The one positive they have is that they are getting off to good starts with the bat so if they can find a middle order player to go well then they should be able to put up the sort of score that could be beyond the Sunrisers.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
This has been a terrible campaign for the Sunrisers Hyderabad and they are just looking to find something from their last two matches to take into next season. If they can finish with a couple of wins then they can at least feel better about things moving forward. You get the feeling that there is going to be a changing of the guard for the Sunrisers with David Warner now falling out of favour so there is an opportunity for players to play for contracts here.
If the Sunrisers are going to get back to the levels which saw them win this title and threaten to win it again then they need a lot more output from their Indian players. They had Indian bowlers who complimented the overseas ones nicely and a couple of middle order players to build on the runs of their superstar batsmen. The Indian players aren’t really contributing at the minute though and no team in this league are going to prosper when that is the situation.
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Key Men
Rahul Tripathi has been in good form since this tournament restarted and there is nothing to suggest he can’t go well against this Sunrisers attack. If he catches fire it will take a lot of pressure off the middle order which is beginning to struggle.
Jason Roy has hit the ground running for the Sunrisers in this tournament and this Kolkata attack is beginning to ship runs to opening batters so the Englishman should be able to take advantage of that. With a World T20 two weeks away Roy will be looking to maintain his form and could fill his boots here.
Betting
There isn’t a huge amount that I like in this match but I’m happy to take one which is for Kolkata Knight Riders to hit more than 13.5 fours. They have only played one match on this ground and they hit 15 fours in it despite barely scoring a run over the last three or four overs. I mentioned in their previous match that they seem to be adopting an everything must go approach and the fact they brought in another batsmen for that game only emphasised that to be the case.
This is a Sunrisers attack which isn’t going great guns in this tournament. Even the great Rashid Khan has been going for a few runs in this competition and the one thing I like about the Knight Riders is that they have a good blend of left and right handers so any shorter boundary will always be in play for them with that in mind. I don’t see Kolkata changing their approach from here on in so with the talent they have at the top of the order I think they’ll cover the 13.5 fours line.
Tips
Back Kolkata Knight Riders – Over 13.5 fours for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with BetVictor
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