Past champions will battle it out in an early test of strength

 after failing to make the

playoffs in the last two

editions, two-time champion

Kolkata Knight Riders will

hope to start well against

2016 winner Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on

Sunday.

The team has had some issues with its batting order in

recent years, and midway

through the last season, Eoin

Morgan took over as captain

from Dinesh Karthik. The

England white ball skipper

will now have the opportunity to implement his ideas

from the beginning.

KKR managed some crucial signings in the auction.

The return of Shakib Al Hasan gives the side significantly better balance, especially

when he slots in alongside

the explosive Andre Russell,

another multidimensional

cricketer.

The Sunil Narine experiment at the top of the order

has run its course. A lot rides

on whether Rahul Tripathi

or Nitish Rana can set the

tone with established opener

Shubman Gill. With the ball,

the team has a balanced

attack.

Pat Cummins and Prasidh

Krishna head the pace department, while the spin of

Shakib and Varun Chakravarthy, if he is fit, could be more

than handy at Chepauk. 

In SRH, KKR faces the best

bowling side in the competition, especially with the return of Bhuvneshwar Kumar,

who excelled against England recently. Sandeep

Sharma and T. Natarajan add

to a strong seam attack,

while leg spinner Rashid

Khan is one of the most lethal game changers in T20

cricket.

The team’s only area of

concern will be the performance of Indian all-rounders

Abdul Samad and Vijay Shankar. The duo will be called

upon to shoulder the finishing duties with the bat and

contribute to the fifth bowler’s quota if the team wants

to play both Jonny Bairstow

and Kane Williamson ahead

of Jason Holder. The wicket

on Friday was two paced,

and SRH, with its potent

bowling attack, will feel it

has an edge.

Probable 11 for both the teams

KKR

1)Shubman Gill

2)Rahul Tripathi

3)Nitish Rana

4)Sakib Al Hasan

5)Eoin Morgan

6)Dinesh Karthik

7)Andre Russel

8)Harbhajan singh

9)Pat Cummins

10)Varun Chakravarty

11)Prasidh Krishna

SRH

1)David Warner

2)Jonny Baristow

3)Kane Williamson

4)Manish Pandey

5)Vijay Shankar

6)Kedar jadhav

7)Rasid Khan

8)Shahbaz Nadeem

9)Siddarth Kaul

10)T Natrajan

11)Bhuvneshwar Kumar