Big Picture - KKR and SRH both on the rise

Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad were both thrashed in their first games of the season and there was no single noteworthy performer for either team. But brighter days are already here.

Knight Riders have found some unlikely heroes. First, it was Shardul Thakur who did something sensational - with the bat - and in the next match, Rinku Singh took it to another level and did something beyond sensational. The cricketing world has still not recovered from Rinku's five sixes in the last over against Gujarat Titans. Even MS Dhoni doing MS Dhoni things hasn't been enough to completely upstage Rinku.

It's been three days since that miracle innings but Knight Riders will still be on a high. Two 200-plus scores - one defended and one chased - will have done their confidence a world of good.

Sunrisers, too, look a more cohesive unit with the arrival of the South Africans after they'd struggled in the first two games. Against Punjab Kings, Marco Jansen bowled a superb spell and picked up two wickets with the new ball while captain Aiden Markram played a supporting role to Rahul Tripathi in the chase with a 21-ball 37. Legspinner Mayank Markande, who bowled an impressive spell of 4 for 15 in the match against Punjab Kings, will be key in the middle overs.

Team News - Roy and Litton arrive

Knight Riders are yet to settle on an opening combination. Rahmanullah Gurbaz has had three different partners in each of the three games so far and further change may yet be on the cards with Jason Roy and Litton Das having joined the team, and trained with them, in Kolkata.

For Sunrisers, Abhishek Sharma is unavailable due to an injury. "Abhi is certainly an important player for us, and the message I've been told is he is still coming back from an injury and they feel he needs a bit more time," captain Markram said during a press conference a few days ago.

Toss and Impact Player strategy

Kolkata Knight Riders

Knight Riders brought in N Jagadeesan and Lockie Ferguson for Mandeep Singh and Tim Southee respectively in the last game. When they bowl, they are likely to pick Suyash Sharma in the starting XI, and might sub him out for Venkatesh or Jagadeesan, depending on which of the two does not make the XI when they bat.

Probable bat-first XI: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk) 2 N Jagadeesan, 3 Venkatesh Iyer, 4 Nitish Rana (capt), 5 Andre Russell, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Shardul Thakur, 8 Sunil Narine, 9 Lockie Ferguson, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Varun Chakravarthy.

Probable bowl-first XI: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Venkatesh Iyer, 3 Nitish Rana (capt), 4 Andre Russell, 5 Rinku Singh, 6 Shardul Thakur, 7 Sunil Narine, 8 Lockie Ferguson, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Suyash Sharma

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Harry Brook replaced Anmolpreet Singh at the top of the order and Sunrisers brought in Heinrich Klaasen to keep gloves in the last match against Kings. They might look to get Abdul Samad in when they bat - especially if it's a chase - for one of the bowlers to strengthen their line-up.

Probable bat-first XI: 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 Harry Brook, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Heinrich Klaasen, 6 Abdul Samad, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Mayank Markande, 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Umran Malik/ T Natrajan

Probable bowl-first XI: 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 Harry Brook, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Aiden Markram (capt.), 5 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 6 Washington Sundar, 7 Marco Jansen, 8 Mayank Markande, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Umran Malik, 11 T Natarajan.

Stats that matter - Sunrisers' spin issues

• In 11 matches in IPL 2022, Varun Chakravarthy took just six wickets. He has already taken five wickets in three matches this season.

• Sunrisers have hit only 15 sixes in powerplay in IPL since 2022, the least for a team in this period.

• Sunrisers have struggled against spinners in IPL 2023. They have lost 12 wickets to spin so far, the second-most for a team behind Delhi Capitals. They also have the lowest strike rate (101) and average (13.7) against spinners this season.

Quotes

"T20's a fantastic game. The game can be won or lost in the last ball, and throughout every IPL that I've been a part of, it seems like every game comes right down to the last over which is why it's such a great product"
Knight Riders fast bowler Lockie Ferguson