What

Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders will come up against each other in Match 8 of VIVO IPL 2016.

In their opening fixture of the season, SRH were blown away by Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. Though the team put up a fight at the start of their run-chase, with captain David Warner taking the fight to the opposition, there was little else to support the captain. Not only did SRH lose the match, but one of their key players – Ashish Nehra – left the field midway through an over with what appeared to be a groin strain. It is expected that SRH will be without the services of Nehra for a while and therefore the team needs to quickly find someone who can do the job Nehra was expected to do.

The Kolkata Knight Riders started their season with a thumping victory against the Delhi Daredevils, after which they stumbled in their match against the defending champions Mumbai Indians. Despite scoring 187, KKR failed to defend the total, with the bowlers coming in for a bit of a pasting at the hands of Rohit Sharma and Jos Buttler. Beginning with this match, KKR play six away matches on the trot and need to quickly pile on the wins, for by the time they may get home in the first week of May, chances are a few teams would have firmed up their positions in the top four.

When

16 April 2016, 1600 Hrs IST

Where

Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad

Weather

Temperature: Max 41°c, Min 37°c
Humidity: Max 21%
Wind: 7kmph

The Protagonists

One can expect the spinners to have a significant influence on the match, given that the temperatures will hover closer to the 40°c and will possibly leave the pitch bone dry before the first ball is bowled. Among the bowlers, SRH will expect Mustafizur Rahman, who bowls plenty of cutters and Karn Sharma to keep things tight. KKR, have a plethora of spinners in their ranks, and are in a better position to extract assistance from the surface. There might be a rejig in their line-up; one expects the two-time champions will look at making place for either or both of Sunil Narine and Shakib-al-Hasan.

On the batting front, the spotlight will be on the usual suspects – David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan for SRH, and Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey for KKR.

Trivia

Yusuf Pathan averages 99.50 with the bat in six matches against the Sunrisers. His batting strike-rate in those six matches is 184.26.

In six matches against the Knight Riders, the Sunrisers leg-spinner Karn Sharma has picked up 9 wickets, picking up a wicket every two overs on an average.

Strangely, teams winning the toss haven’t converted that advantage to a favourable result in IPL matches in Hyderabad. The team losing the toss has gone on to win 17 of the 20 matches played at the venue since 2012.

Head to Head

Kolkata Knight Riders have a edge, courtesy their 4-2 win-loss record against the Sunrisers. Last season, both teams won their respective home fixtures; courtesy David Warner’s 91 SRH won at Visakhapatnam, while KKR defended their home territory, defeating SRH by 35 runs.

What Next

Sunrisers Hyderabad will remain at home and prepare to host the defending champions Mumbai Indians in their next figure, the match scheduled to be played on April 18. The Kolkata Knight Riders will head to Mohali next, for their clash against Kings XI Punjab on April 19.