KKR start as favourites against Sunrisers in IPL Eliminator

Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders will look to assert their supremacy, while Sunrisers Hyderabad have revenge on mind when the teams clash in the Indian Premier League Eliminator in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Both Sunrisers and KKR finished their league engagements with 16 points each, but the Gautam Gambhir-led Kolkata side ended up fourth, behind Sunrisers due to an inferior net run-rate.

But going into the do-or-die game, KKR have a psychological advantage over the Sunrisers, having beaten them on both occasions during the league stage.

KKR thrashed Sunrisres by eight wickets in their first meeting this season and then came out victorious by 22 runs in a must-win match last Sunday to qualify for the play-offs.

Going by records too, KKR enjoy an edge, having won the tournament twice in the past – 2012 and 2014 – and finishing in the Play-offs in 2011.

Sunrisers, on the other hand, secured a play-off berth in 2013 and will be gunning for glory this time around.

Wednesday's match will also give them an opportunity to avenge their defeats to KKR.

Knight Riders captain Gambhir will be desperate to prove a point to the national selectors after being ignored for the tour of Zimbabwe and West Indies despite scoring consistently in the ongoing IPL.

Gambhir is the leading scorer for KKR with 473 runs from 14 games, including five half-centuries. His opening partner Robin Uthappa (383 runs) and Yusuf Pathan (359) too shone with the bat but they too were ignored for a national call-up.

But KKR’s young batsman Manish Pandey, who has scored 212 runs from 11 games so far, was picked for the Zimababwe tour and will be eager to justify his selection with another fine outing with the bat.

It also remains to be seen whether KKR’s go-to man Andre Russell has recovered from injury.

The big-hitting Jamaican all-rounder, who has two man-of-the-match performances this season, missed their last two games because of a leg injury and KKR will pray for his recovery ahead of the do-or-die clash.

Just when it seemed that KKR were getting no more success from their spinners, Sunil Narine and young Kuldeep Yadav sizzled with three and two wickets respectively to script victory against Sunrisers in their last game.

Sunrisers, on the other hand, did not have the best of outings in their last two games. The Hyderabad outfit's confidence may have taken a dent due to defeats against Delhi Daredevils and KKR in their previous two matches.

Come Wednesday, they have no option but to return to winning ways to make their maiden IPL final appearance.

Just like Gambhir, David Warner has been inspirational for Sunrsiers as captain.

The Australian is the second-highest run-getter in the tournament, amassing 658 runs from 14 games.

His opening partner Shikhar Dhawan has also found his mojo back after a slow start and scored 463 runs, an unbeaten 82 being his highest.

Sunrisers also have the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Moises Henriques and Eoin Morgan who are yet to fire in the tournament. But their dazzling seam attack is left with a void after senior pro Ashish Nehra's hamstring injury ruled him out of the remainder of the season.

In Nehra's absence, left-arm pace duo of Barinder Sran and Mutafizur Rahim along with and Bhuvneshwar Kumar will have to put up a better show.

Victory on Wednesday will not guarantee any side a place in the final as they will have to fight it out against the losing team of the Qualifier 1 between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Lions in Bangalore on Friday.

Teams (from):

Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (c), Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Yusuf Pathan, Shakib Al Hasan, Piyush Chawla, Sunil Narine, Jason Holder, Morne Morkel, Ankit Rajpoot, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Brad Hogg, Colin Munro, Shaun Tait, Umesh Yadav, Sheldon Jackson, Kuldeep Yadav, Manan Sharma, Rajagopal Sathish and Jaydev Unadkat.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh, Moises Henriques, Eoin Morgan, Deepak Hooda, Naman Ojha, Karn Sharma, Mustafizur Rahman, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Barinder Sran, Trent Boult, Ben Cutting, Kane Williamson, Ashish Reddy, Ricky Bhui, Bipul Sharma, Siddarth Kaul, Abhimanyu Mithun, Vijay Shankar, T Suman, Aditya Tare.

• Coverage: IPL 9