IPL 2020: Match 35, SRH vs KKR- KKR Predicted Playing XI

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) haven’t had the best of campaigns in their last two outings in the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL). The Men in Gold and Purple appointed Eoin Morgan as their new skipper ahead of their previous match against the Mumbai Indians (MI).

However, the 2019 World Cup-winning skipper didn’t have a great start as the Knights lost the game by eight wickets. In their next encounter, KKR are set to lock horns with the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Sunday, October 18 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

In their previous meeting, the Knights brushed aside the Orange Army by seven wickets at the same venue. The Sunrisers are also straining a wee bit, losing five out of their eight matches and are placed at the bottom half of the table.

Here is the Predicted Playing XI for the Kolkata Knight Riders for SRH vs KKR game: 

Openers (Rahul Tripathi, Shubman Gill)

Rahul Tripathi has floated around in the batting lineup and the constant chopping and changing haven’t helped him by any stretch of the imagination. After he notched 81 runs against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Rahul has blown a tad hot and cold, and has 144 runs at an average of 28.80.

Shubman Gill, on the other hand, is the leading run-scorer for the Knights, having notched 275 runs with a couple of fifties at a decent average.

His top score of 70* came against the SRH itself in Abu Dhabi itself and that should give him some confidence. The KKR team will want both Tripathi and Shubman to fire.

Middle-order (Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Eoin Morgan (C))

The middle-order has promised a lot but hasn’t yet put its best foot forward. Dinesh Karthik, barring his fifty against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), has looked awful, to say the least. A mere average of 14 sums up the tournament he has had.

Nitish Rana has entered into a slump after a few handy scores. Eoin Morgan has a massive task as apart from showing his batting prowess, he also has the job of leading the team.

Though he didn’t have a great outing last time, he would be keen to make amends. With the willow in hand, the southpaw has scored 214 runs at a decent average of 42.80.

All-rounder (Andre Russell)

Andre Russell’s dry run with the bat doesn’t seem to come to an end. The Jamaican has 83 runs at a dismal average of 11.85. The right-hander has been vulnerable against short-pitched bowling and the same was exposed by Jasprit Bumrah.

He needs to find his rhythm with the bat at the earliest. With the ball in hand, Dre Russ has six wickets to show for his efforts. But his economy rate, which is currently at 9.12, has been increasing with every match.

Russell is one of the key players for the Knight Riders and despite his poor run of form, the Sunrisers won’t be undermining the big man.

Bowlers (Pat Cummins, Chris Green, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Prasidh Krishna)

The bowling department hasn’t fired much in the last two games. Pat Cummins has done well with the bat but has been rusty with the ball. With two wickets from eight games, the pacer has the highest bowling average and strike-rate of 125 and 87 respectively among all the Knights bowlers.

Shivam Mavi has six wickets, but he has been expensive as well. Australian off-break bowler Chris Green bowled well in the powerplay on his IPL debut.

Varun Chakravarthy can be called as the standout bowler for the Knights. The tweaker has six wickets and with an economy of 7.21, he hasn’t leaked a lot of runs.