PUNE, May 13: Smarting from four straight losses, Sunrisers Hyderabad will need to sort out their bowling issues when they face an inconsistent Kolkata Knight Riders, as both the teams look to stay afloat in the IPL play-offs race here on Saturday.
A series of losses after a five-match winning streak has dragged SRH down to the sixth spot with 10 points and they would need to win all their remaining three games to harbour any hopes of making it to the play-offs.
KKR, however, are on the brink of elimination and their woes were compounded with the ruling out of pace spearhead Pat Cummins owing to a hip injury.
Shreyas Iyer’s men have just two more matches to go and wins in both will only take them to 14 points, which might not be enough with Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore already sitting pretty in the top four with 14 points from 12 games.
One of the main reasons behind SRH’s awful run in the last few games is injuries to frontline bowlers – Washington Sundar and T Natarajan – and the sudden loss of form of speedster Umran Malik.
It culminated in SRH conceding more than 190 plus runs in each of the last four games.
While Sundar had injured his bowling hand again, death over specialist Natarajan had picked up a niggle. But coach Tom Moody was hopeful of the duo’s return against KKR.
Malik, who looked fast and furious in the earlier games clocking 150kmph consistently, has gone wicket-less and conceded too many runs in the last few matches and his form will be key for SRH.
Fazalhaq Farooqi and Karthik Tyagi were taken to the cleaners by RCB in their last game, adding to SRH’s problems.
In batting, SRH have the quality but skipper Kane Williamson will have to take more responsibility as he has just one fifty to show for this season. Although Abhishek Sharma has given them solid starts, the youngster has not been able to anchor the innings.
Rahul Tripathi, Nicholas Pooran and Aiden Markram, too, have been among runs but SRH batters will need assistance from their bowlers, who will have to ensure that they limit their opposition to a reasonable total.
KKR, on the other hand, are paying the price for making constant changes to their playing XI and are staring at elimination after losing seven of their 12 games.
KKR, however, are coming into the match after beating Mumbai Indians in their last game and they would look to end things on a high.
The 2021 finalists have struggled in the power play this season but with Venkatesh Iyer, who was dropped due to his lean run, back in the mix, KKR produced a good effort against MI.
The seasoned Tim Southee and Cummins produced a solid effort after returning to the XI, sharing four wickets against MI. However, KKR were dealt a massive blow as the team management confirmed that Cummins has been ruled out of the remainder of the IPL with a mild hip injury and has already left for Australia for rehabilitation.
KKR’s highest wicket-taker Umesh Yadav had missed the last game after pulling his calf muscle and the team would be hoping that he recovers for the match. (PTI)
