Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL Final Tips: KKR hard to stop

• KKR odds-on for title

• Keep eye on the tie

• Nitish underrated

• Read about Ed's Betfair Exchange strategy below

Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad
Sunday 26 May, 15:00
TV: Live on Sky Sports

Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL Final team news

Kolkata dominated Sunrisers in the first qualifier, winning by eight wickets. Rahmanullah Gurbaz ensured Phil Salt was not missed with 23 off 14 to get the chase off to a strong start.

KKR were in such control that they didn't need an impact player. One would expect that to be Nitish Rana with the bat and Vaibhav Arora with the ball.

Probable XI: Gurbaz, Narine, Venkatesh, Nitish/Arora (subs), Shreyas, Rinku, Russell, Ramandeep, Starc, Harshit, Varun

Sunrisers flipped the formbook by overcoming an unusually poor batting display with an unusually shrewd bowling effort against Royals in qualifier two.

With part-time spinners Shahbaz Ahmed and Abhishek Sharma taking five wickets between them they will reckon they have hit on a method to succeed at Chennai. Aiden Markram returned to the side largely because of his useful spin.

Probable XI: Head/Shahbaz (subs), Abhishek, Tripathi, Markram, Klaasen, Reddy, Samad, Cummins, Kumar, Unadkat, Natarajan

Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL Final pitch report

It would be a surprise if the wicket for the final was not fresh. The surface has looked increasingly tired and Sunrisers' 175 was indicative of that. against Royals. It was the second time Sunrisers had found life hard batting on the surface. They were bowled out for 135 against Chennai. KKR could manage only 137. The market is wise to this with the unders line on the 20-over market set at 183.5. No rain is forecast.

Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL Final match prediction

KKR are 1.8810/11 favourites with Sunrisers 2.1211/10. These are the best two sides in the competition as per the league table so it is right that they meet in the final.

But might Sunrisers be a little shorter? They take great credit for finding a way to get past the Royals with their spin options while Pat Cummins' captaincy was outstanding.

The market is unconvinced. The odds suggest Sunrisers were fortunate to come up against a Royals batting line-up which has suffered from a chronic lack of confidence.

KKR have won both head-to-heads with spin causing Sunrisers issues on both outings. There is no doubt they are the right favourites.

Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL Final Exchange strategy

Kolkata, thanks to Andre Russell, laid down a marker for death hitting when these two met in the first game of their seasons.

It might be wise to expect late runs from KKR again, enabling a play on the innings runs market were they to bat first. If they don't, an onslaught could make for a tight finish.

We are looking for around 60 and 65 runs in the last four for KKR (well within their range statistically). We will also keep the tie on side and can see it trading in the low teens from 70.069/1.

Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL Final player bets

Russell hasn't won a top bat since that onslaught against Sunrisers but the 9/25.50 is no good for someone so low down the order. Instead we return to Nitish Rana at 5/16.00. It is a strong option on win rate in the last two years. For Sunrisers, Travis Head is a big-game player and there will be plenty of takers of the boosted 10/34.33 that he tops.

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