In the third match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will open their campaign on Sunday, April 11, at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, in Chennai. With David Warner at the helm and the likes of Kane Williamson, Jonny Bairstow, Jason Roy, Rashid Khan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the line-up, SRH pose a strong challenge to the IPL title this year as well. With the exception of Roy, who landed in Chennai on Saturday and will be quarantined, the rest of the aforementioned players are available for selection. With a healthy mix of young and experienced Indian players such as Manish Pandey, T Natarajan, Khaleel Ahmed, Priyam Garg and Siddarth Kaul among others in the mix, SRH have a well-balanced squad at their disposal.
On the other hand, Eoin Morgan-led side will hope to start off with a win. KKR have a tendency to lose momentum in the middle of the tournament. Shubman Gill will continue to open for Kolkata Knight Riders and he will be eager to perform for the team after not making it to the playing XI in the limited-overs series against England. Nitish Rana has been training with the team, and fans will hope he is fit to play. He can certainly be a difference-maker at the top order. Eoin Morgan will hope he can replicate the form he showcased in the T20I series against India in the IPL as well. Dinesh Karthik will continue to play the role of the floater in the team, but he would hope to do better with the bat this time around. Sunil Narine was the focus of attention last season with cricket pundits pointing out a dip in his performances. He needs to be at his wicket-taking best. Prasidh Krishna was excellent in the ODI series against England for India, and he would certainly have gained confidence from those performances.
KKR Predicted XI: Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan , Shakib Al Hasan , Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell , Sunil Narine , Varun Chakravarthy, Pat Cummins , Prasidh Krishna.
SRH Predicted XI David Warner (C), Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Kedar Jadhav, Abdul Samad, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma & T Natarajan.
