Updates:
The toss at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi went Pat Cummins' way at the SunRisers Hyderabad and Pat Cummins opted to bowl first against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). With not much at stake for both sides, they have gone unchanged and will look what they can build for the next season.
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Anrich Nortje, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan(w), Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhinav Manohar, Pat Cummins(c), Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga.
Preview:
Kolkata Knight Riders and SunRisers Hyderabad are gearing up for what will be their final game of IPL 2025 and will play at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. The finalists of the 2024 edition have inexplicably failed to reach the playoffs this year after failing to grasp their chances earlier in the tournament.
The Knight Riders had a glimmer of hope of reaching the playoffs ahead of the clash against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on May 17 at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. However, persistent rain washed out the clash, effectively eliminating the defending champions from the playoff race. Nevertheless, the Knight Riders have been well below-par, compared to the previous season, especially with Andre Russell and Venkatesh Iyer not being able to score consistently.
Moreover, the Knight Riders are likely to be rusty after returning to the field following a long break.
Meanwhile, the SunRisers have managed to hit their straps in the last two matches, defeating the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). Their bowling line-up has especially come good, with Eshan Malinga playing starring roles in both games. However, the Orange Army will have the 80-run defeat in their minds to the Knight Riders that occurred earlier in the season.
KKR vs SRH IPL 2025 squads:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Rinku Singh, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer, Ramandeep Singh, Andre Russell, Anrich Nortje, Harshit Rana, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Mayank Markande, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Spencer Johnson, Luvnith Sisodia, Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali, Chetan Sakariya.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins (c), Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klassen, Nitish Reddy, Ishan Kishan, Mohammad Shami, Harshal Patel, Rahul Chahar, Harsh Dubey, Atharva Taide, Abhinav Manohar, Simarjeet Singh, Zeeshan Ansari, Jaydev Unadkat, Kamindu Mendis, Aniket Verma, Eshan Malinga, Sachin Baby, Wiaan Mulder
