IPL 2025: The last season's IPL champions did not have a very good start this year. They lost the opening match at home against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Then they won against Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati, but again failed at Wankhede. Batting sank against Mumbai. Kolkata (KKR) has dropped to tenth place in the league table. Before going down against Sunrisers, which has increased the headache of coach Chandrakant Pandit and mentor Dwayne Bravo. Experts believe that the Knight camp may change the opening pair on Thursday. The trick that the purple-golden camp was playing since last season by sending Sunil Narine in the beginning is probably going to stop. Venkatesh Iyer can take the field with Quinton de Kock. Fans have skyrocketing expectations from the star of 24.5 crores.
Ajinkya Rahane will be at number three. He will also be seen in the 'free roll' against Sunrisers. Kolkata can use young Angakris Raghuvanshi at number four. Rinku Singh's form graph has been declining since last season. His collection in two innings in this IPL too is 12 and 17. The team management is probably taking the difficult decision to drop him. There is a possibility of playing experienced Manish Pandey at number five. Andre Russell and Ramandeep Singh will be seen as finishers at number six and seven. Russell's bowling is also going to be important. Sunil Narine may be dropped at number eight. Kolkata is prioritizing his bowling on Thursday. Varun Chakravarthy will also be in the spin department. Anrikh Narkhia may be seen on the field instead of Spencer Johnson. Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora will be with him.
IPL 2025 match schedule-
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)
Match No. 15
Date- 03/04/2025
Venue- Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Time: 7:30 PM (Indian Time)
Eden Gardens Pitch Report-
The Knight Riders and Sunrisers camps are facing each other at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Although the Eden pitch was once known as slow and spin-friendly, its character has now changed by twenty-two yards. Usually, batting-friendly wickets are seen in the paradise of cricket. Recently, a section of the Knight Riders camp had a wide-ranging disagreement with curator Sujan Mukherjee over this. Despite this, experts say that the Knights' preferred whirling wicket will not be seen on Thursday. Perhaps the batters will swing the bat. Statistics show that a total of 94 IPL matches have been held at Eden. Of these, 38 were won by batting first. 56 were won by chasing runs. On Thursday too, the captain who won the toss can decide to bat first.
KKR vs SRH Head to Head Statistics-
- Total matches- 28
- Kolkata win- 19
- Hyderabad win- 09
- Result of last meeting - Kolkata won by 8 wickets
Key Players (Potential Stars)-
Quinton de Kock-
Quinton de Kock could be the star of the Kolkata Knight Riders' clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The South African wicketkeeper-batsman has struggled against Bangalore and Mumbai this season, but he has scored runs against Rajasthan. If he can start the innings at Eden Gardens, then the fans will surely breathe a sigh of relief.
Andre Russell-
Caribbean all-rounder Andre Russell has been with Kolkata Knight Riders since 2014. He is one of the most important members of the team this time too. He was retained for a whopping Rs 12 crore. However, 'Muscle Russell' has not been in his usual form in the three matches of the season so far. A good performance from him against Sunrisers is very much needed for the Kolkata franchise.
Varun Chakraborty-
Varun Chakravarthy took 1 wicket in the Bangalore match at Eden but gave away 43 runs. He was heard complaining about the Kolkata pitch after the match. This has led to a lot of controversy in the cricket world. Pitch curator Sujan Mukherjee has been brought to book. Everyone will be watching how Varun performs in the second match of the season at Eden. The Tamil Nadu spinner is in good form this season. He has played well for India in the England series and Champions Trophy. Therefore, fans consider the failure against Bangalore to be an exception.
Possible XI-
Openers- Quinton de Kock, Venkatesh Iyer
Middle order- Ajinkya Rahane, Angakrish Raghuvanshi*, Manish Pandey
Finisher- Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh
Bowlers- Varun Chakraborty, Sunil Narine, Anrikh Narkhia, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora*
Wicketkeeper- Quinton de Kock
*- Can play as an impact player.
KKR's probable playing XI at a glance-
In the case of batting first-
Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Angakrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakraborty, Sunil Narine, Anrikh Narkhia, Harshit Rana.
In the case of first bowling-
Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakraborty, Sunil Narine, Anrikh Narkhia, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora.
Impact Players- Angakrish Raghuvanshi/Vaibhav Arora, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, Spencer Johnson, Lavneet Sisodia.