Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL Tips: Is the runfest value?

IPL Thursday Superboost

Betfair are offering punters a brilliant superboost for Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad focusing in on two strong opening batsmen in Travis Head and Quinton de Kock.

Both players have hit 12 sixes between them so far in the IPL, so the chance to back the pair to hit 3+  between them at 7/42.75 boosted from 5/42.25 in Thursday's game is one to take a look at.

Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad
Thursday 3 April, 15:00
TV: live on Sky Sports

Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL team news

KKR have suffered two chastening defeats due to poor batting to explode any aura remaining after last year's title win. The loss of players like Phil Salt and Shreyas Iyer are being keenly felt. They are bizarrely freindless in the outright market compared to Mumbai Indians. Both have two defeats from three. One is 6.806/1 and the other 23.022/1.

Against Mumbai they were so bad batting first that Manish Pandey was subbed in as an extra batter. And if Pandey is the answer then the question often doesn't bear thinking about. 

Possible KKR XI: De Kock, Narine, Rahane, Iyer, Raghuvanshi (Arora sub), Rinku, Russell, Ramandeep, Harshit, Johnson, Varun

Sunrisers' stand and deliver approach isn't working with two defeats in three. There is no team as aggressive with the bat and that is to be commended. The problem is that they have the feel of a side which needs to post 220 or they're done for.

This SRH bowling unit couldn't be economical in a Lidl, having conceded 12 an over against Royals and Lucknow and ten against Delhi. Maybe they need to start having a chase? Key players like Nitish Reddy look out of form but the squad depth isn't there to solve it, hence subbing Travis Head for Adam Zampa and vice versa. 

We expect to see some rotation with their their fifth bowler. Zeeshan Ansari, Simarjeet Singh and Jaydev Unadkat could be in and out over the next few weeks. 

Possible SRH XI: Head (Zampa sub), Abhishek, Ishan, Reddy, Klaasen, Verma, Manohar, Cummins, Harshal, Shami, Ansari/Simarjeet/Unadkat

Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL pitch report

At the start of the season this game would have been identified as a potential record-breaking runfest. KKR's batting woes have probably calmed talk about monster totals but the Eden Gardens pitch should be flat enough to see high run rates. Seven of the last 15 first-innings have seen 200 or more busted. However, the runs line is set at 212.5 for overs and that would have been a winner in five of those. That does include this fixture in 2023.

This poses an important question: is there value to be had on runs? We know that big scores are likely but there still needs to be a semblance of a wrong price. At even money on the runs line it is hard to justify playing overs.

The solution could be on both teams to go well. Sportsbook offer 11/82.38 that both teams score 180. That's a winner six times in the study period which is a couple of percentage points from being wrong on implied probability. The Sunrisers bowling and uptick in rungetting in the last two years may make the difference here. A small interest is an the advice. 

Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL match prediction

Neither of these two teams are impressing so far and wagering pre-toss feels like a fool's errand. At the prices, however, it seems hard to justify SRH favourite status.

For a start they are away from home and on a good batting wicket which means two things: one, their hitting (their one point of difference) is negated somewhat and two, their bowlers can go round the park again.

This should be a choice affair at this stage. But we should also point out that KKR's batting is becoming a major worry. Sunil Narine and Rinku Singh, for example, look miles off it. In Narine's case it is not surprising to see him return to the mean after a bonkers 2024.

Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL exchange strategy

The toss is important for this one as it is reasonable to expect the team that bats first to be shorter at the break. So if it is KKR it could be that they score quickly enough to come into the 1.654/6 region. That's a trade from the off right there.

But we are not averse to keeping our powder dry entirely until the chase. Sunrisers, for example, might discover they are, in fact, a chasing team because of their gung-ho nature. Betting the outsider at the break to get up and chase 200-230 is well worth an interest at big odds. 

Betfair Predicts Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad

Betfair Predicts shows Exchange betting markets as percentage chances. Our graphic below shows how Betfair punters are betting on Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad. Watch the graphic in real time as the percentage swings back and forth. 

Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL player bets

Milestone bettting is the way to go for the batters instead of top-bat bets. On a potentially flat wicket there's nowt worse than your man getting beat with a 60- or 70-odd. So optioning 'to score a 50' takes others of the equation. Travis Head is 15/82.88 for a 50 while Abhishek Sharma may be due a score at 9/43.25. For KKR, Ajinkya Rahane is probably their most reliable batter and he has been hitting it sweetly. We will forgive and forget the misjudhgement against MI which was out of character. He is 5/23.50.

We can keep all batters on side by backing any ton in the match at Sportsbook's 11/26.50. On four-year form we make it slightly shorter with 9/25.50 a more likely price. This, of course, is in line with views on the pitch and bowling ability.

Now read more Cricket tips and previews here!