Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad: Cool KKR may have the edge

• KKR slight outsiders at 2.0421/20

• Winner goes to the final

• Nitish too big at 11/26.50

• Read about Ed's Betfair Exchange strategy below

Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad
Tuesday 20 May, 15:00
TV: Live on Sky Sports

Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad team news

Kolkata have lost the services of Phil Salt. Fortunately Rahmanullah Gurbaz is a more than adequate replacement with a career strike rate in franchise leagues of 148. In an effort to tame the Sunrisers' hitting Suyash Sharma, who has only played twice, could be used as an impact sub.

Possible XI: Gurbaz, Narine, Venkatesh/Suyash (subs), Shreyas, Nitish, RInk, Russell, Ramandeep, Starc, Varun, Harshi

Sunrisers booked their top-two spot with a typically beefy batting show against Punjab. They were indebted to a washout in Royals' last game against KKR. Jaydev Unadkat could be an option if Sunrisers want more pace but it would be no surprise if they prefer spin with Viyaskanth.

Probable XI: Head/Natarajan, Abhishek, Tripathi, Reddy, Klaasen, Ahmed, Samad, Sanvir, Cummins, Kumar, Viyaskanth

Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad pitch report

At Ahmedabad last time Gujarat, the snails of the tournament, smashed 231. Batters to the fore then. Both teams average 10.5 on batting run rate. Sunrisers are more expensive with the ball at 10.1 so a par line to bust at 205.5 may need KKR to bat first. Sportsbook go 13/102.30 that both score 200. KKR won the head-to-head defending 208 by four. No rain is forecast.

Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad match prediction

Kolkata are marginal outsiders at 2.0421/20 with Sunrisers 1.9520/21. There's not much to choose between the teams in terms of run rates with bat and ball or indeed style.

It is perhaps not surprising that Sunrisers are marginal jollies because their hitting is fearsome. But do KKR have more smarts? Their superior bowling economy overall and at the powerplay and middle-over phase could be crucial.

Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad Exchange strategy

The team that bat first should be slashed to at least 1.654/6 by the time of the break. So there is an obvious trade there.

However, we do expect the chaser to be in this game. There was a suspicion that Sunrisers weren't quite up to the pressure of a going after a target but at the least we'd expect them (and KKR) to flip the odds at some stage batting second.

Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad player bets

Andre Russell and Heinrich Klaasen top scored for KKR and SRH respectively in the previous head-to-head. Russell hasn't won since and the 9/25.50 isn't right for us this time because he is batting too low. Instead Nitish Rana has drifted from 4s to 11/26.50 and it remains a win-rate bet on two-year form. His record against SRH is strong, averaging 34 and striking at 136. Klaasen is a bit better at 4/15.00. He is overdue.

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