In a highly anticipated match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are facing off against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the historic Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The match marks the return of Shreyas Iyer as KKR’s skipper and Mitchell Starc‘s comeback to the IPL arena after a hiatus of nine years.
Sunrisers Hyderabad wins toss, elects to field
The toss was won by Sunrisers Hyderabad, and their newly appointed skipper, Australian stalwart Pat Cummins, chose to field first. Cummins expressed confidence in the team’s preparations and emphasized the positive atmosphere within the Sunrisers camp.
“We’re going to have a bowl; the wicket looks pretty good. Jansen, Klaasen, and Markram are the other three. This is my first game for Sunrisers, it’s been awesome in the camp to the lead-up, and the confidence is really high in the group,” said Cummins during the toss.
Kolkata Knight Riders ready for battle
Meanwhile, Iyer, the reinstated captain of Kolkata Knight Riders, expressed his excitement about returning to the field after recovering from a back injury. He shared insights into the team’s strategy and highlighted the prowess of their spinners.
“I feel fantastic; I have been training well and played a few games as well. The spinners have been bowling tremendously over the past few seasons, and all of them are lethal in their own way. I see a bit of dryness on this wicket, and hopefully, it will help them. Salt, Narine, Russell, and Starc are playing today,” said Iyer.
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KKR vs SRH: Playing XI of both the teams
Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Marco Jansen, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, T Natarajan
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Philip Salt (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy
Impact substitutes for both the teams
Kolkata Knight Riders: Suyash Sharma, Manish Pandey, Vaibhav Arora, Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, Umran Malik, Glenn Phillips, Abhishek Sharma.