IPL 2019: Match 2, KKR v SRH – KKR elect to bowl first at Eden Gardens

SRH had defeated KKR in second qualifier in IPL 2018.

The second match of the IPL sees Sunrisers Hyderabad travel to the Kolkata Knight Riders’ den, the Eden Gardens, for the first matches of both the franchises. In IPL 2018, the two teams had faced off in the second qualifier and SRH had come out victorious going into the finals.

SRH defended many low totals last year thanks to the shrewd captaincy of Kane Williamson and the might of SRH bowling.

SRH announced Kane Williamson as their captain and Bhuvneshwar Kumar as his deputy for the 2019 edition.  SRH is also strengthened with the addition of England's Jonny Bairstow who is appearing in his first IPL.

SRH are blessed to get Warner back, who missed IPL 2018 due to his ban for ball-tampering scandal. But they did well without him in 2018, but with him, the team is a different force altogether.

KKR, on the other hand, was just handed three big blows in the fast bowling department, losing Mavi, Nagarkoti, and Nortje to injuries. This means atleast for this match, they need to rely on the fast bowling options they have in the squad, like Sandeep Warrier, Lockie Ferguson, and Harry Gurney. But playing in Eden Gardens means employing spin, which they have in abundance in Kuldeep, Chawla, and Narine.

This time SRH has the batting power to match its bowling might, while KKR will be roaring to go in their den in Eden and this makes a very interesting match for IPL 2019. 

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is leading SunRisers Hyderabad today in the absence of Kane Williamson.

Toss: Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and chose to bowl first.

Playing XIs:

KKR: Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (w/c), Andre Russell, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Prasidh Krishna.

SRH: David Warner, Jonny Bairstow (w), Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, Shakib Al Hasan, Vijay Shankar, Yusuf Pathan, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (c), Sandeep Sharma, Siddharth Kaul.