Advantage Knight Riders

Hyderabad: Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) may be hoping for opening their points tally in their first home match but it may be, nay, difficult getting past two-time champion Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium (RGICS) here on Saturday. A bigger burden will be the fact that the match is scheduled to commence at 4pm in a city that is bearing the brunt of its heaviest summer in recent years with the temperatures hovering around 40 degrees Celsius.

It was a disastrous campaign opener for Hyderabad, which was beaten by 45 runs by Royal Challenger Bangalore (RCB), notwithstanding the heroics of skipper David Warner, who struck 58. On that count the onus will be on Shikar Dhawan, Moises Henriques and Eoin Morgan to deliver the goods if the home team has to make any headway, particularly considering that Kolkata will be regrouping resources after the debacle against the defending champion, Mumbai Indians.

Taken under any yardstick, KKR is the team to beat with captain Gautam Gambhir leading from the front, literally with his unbeaten 38 and a fifty in his first two essays. The spin department of the visitors could be bolstered if mystery spinner Sunil Narine makes it into the playing eleven along with Brad Hogg. Hyderabad is likely to strengthen its batting by bringing in Adiya Tare instead of betting on Naman Ojha.

The pace spearhead in the absence of old warhorse, Ashish Nehra, will be Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who was nowhere his best in the first match. In addition to Mustafizur Reham, who was impressive with his slower ones, Hyderabad will have to choose from among Barinder Saran, Abhimanuyu Mithun and Siddarth Kaul to make up for Nehra, who is sitting in the sidelines like Yuvraj Singh. Unless Sunrisers Hyderabad dishes out something sensational, Kolkata will take to the field as the odds-on favourite. Moreover, home advantage has seldom come to the rescue of Sunrisers Hyderabad.