Sunrisers Hyderabad have already booked their spot in the top 2 and KKR are just one win away from confirming their spot in the play-offs. They have to win, as simple as that. If they don’t win this game, they will be on 14 points and whether they make it to the play-offs or not will depend on net run rate.
This year, KKR have been a completely different team. They are led by a very underrated cricketer Dinesh Karthik, who has finally come into his own. Karthik has been a brilliant captain so far, perhaps the best in the IPL.
We love the way he has mentored young players like Shubman Gill and Shivam Mavi, who have done very well for them.
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Karthik explained in an interview with ESPN why he was so successful at mentoring the young players. He said, “One of my strengths as a person is, I’m very easy-going. You know me by now, I’m a restless, fidgety kind of guy who is always laughing, playing and monkeying around. It is the same with the young guys – I kind of like being friends with them. At least I would like to think I give an image where they don’t feel, “Oh god, he is a senior.”
“Youngsters like Gill and Mavi have a free-flowing spirit. It is important for me to show them the path while letting them take the right decisions. I feel they have a beautiful journey ahead of them and [it shouldn’t be a case of them] trying to do things that I tell them, what I feel is better. You give them the knowledge and insight, but always allow them to take the decision. I believe in empowering people rather than advising them and forcing them in a direction which I feel is right. It is important to throw the right questions at them and they find the right answers.”
He has also been strict whenever needed. We remember how he shouted at Kuldeep Yadav when he made a misfield in the last game. KKR are a very good team with underrated players like Karthik and one superstar in Andre Russell. They certainly deserve to make it to the play-offs.
Prediction: We expect KKR to give it their everything and win. Sunrisers won’t to be too motivated as this is a meaningless match for the,.
The Teams
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Alex Hales, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Deepak Hooda, 6 Shakib Al Hasan, 7 Shreevats Goswami (wk), 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Rashid Khan, 10 Sandeep Sharma, 11 Siddarth Kaul
Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Chris Lynn, 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Robin Uthappa, 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Dinesh Karthik (capt & wk), 6 Andre Russell, 7 Shubman Gill, 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 Mitchell Johnson/Javon Searles, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Shivam Mavi
Watch Sunrisers Hyderabad play Kolkata Knight Riders tonight at 8 pm Live on Star Sports!
