Qualifier 1: KKR vs SRH Full Analysis – Road to Finals

The first Qualifier of TATA IPL 2024 will be played between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Kolkata finished at the top in the points table with 20 points to his name while Hyderabad finished 2nd with 17 points. 

In the group stage, they only met once and that was their first match for both the teams in this season, where Andre Russell’s firstly merciless batting and then with a brilliant bowling took the game to his team’s name. 

Teams Analysis: 

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) squad analysis: 

Shreyas Iyer © – 

The leader of the team has shown brilliancy in his leadership role due to which the team was able to finish at the top of the points table. His presence of mind and ability to tackle the team in the hard situation makes the team different from others.

His batting has not been that much destructive but his couple of match saving knocks makes it an impactful contribution. With one half-century to his name he scored 287 runs in 12 innings, with a strike rate of 135.38. His half-century came against RCB. 

Sunil Narine –

This man has been lethal in both the departments and in most of the matches he showed the domination single-handedly. This season a different Sunil Narine was seen in the batting department. Though he was a little aggressive in his batting in previous seasons, this season he equally contributed runs very well. 

He is currently the leading run-scorer from the team with 461 runs with a strike rate of 182.94 in which one century and 3 half centuries were included. In his bowling with a brilliant economy of 6.64 he got 15 wickets. 

Venkatesh Iyer – 

The other Iyer of the team has provided some crucial knocks to the team and is mostly seen consistent with the bat. He has 267 runs with a strike rate of 149.16. He scored two 50+ knocks and the best was against MI where he took his team out from danger and scored valuable 70 runs with the bat. 

Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk) – 

As Phil Salt has returned to England due to the T20 series against Pakistan, Gurbaz is most probably to open with Narine and will take the keeping responsibility also. This Afghan player has the potential to get a solid start along with his former partner. In the last season, he was seen opening for the team and again he needs to step in and show the power of destruction.

Nitish Rana – 

He played only two matches and his best came against MI which was KKR’s last match in the group stage and scored 33 runs in 23 balls. He was leading the team last season in the absence of Shreyas Iyer but this season due to injury he was not able to play any matches at the start.  

Angkrish Raghuvanshi –

In his very first match, where he came to bat scored a brilliant half-century against DC. But after that he lacks consistency. He got some 20’s and 30’s but was not able to convert it into a big one. In 7 innings he scored 163 runs. 

Andre Russell – 

The monster in the team has the power to shift the momentum towards his team anytime he wants. His strike rate in this season is 185, which is the 2nd best in his team. He has scored 222 runs in 9 innings and has one half-century to his name and that came against the orange army when he scored unbeaten 64 runs in 25 balls, where he hit 3 fours and 7 sixes. He impressed with this bowling as he took 15 wickets and most of them came when the team required it the most.

Ramandeep Singh – 

He is providing some super power hitting in the death overs and has added valuable runs towards the end. He has the best strike rate in the team which is 201.61. Though his best this season is 35 only but still his destructive batting helped the team in the last few overs. 

Rinku Singh –

He is not able to perform according to his nature as he only batted with a strike rate of 148.67 and managed only 168 runs. He is a fantastic fielder but needs to be more effective with the bat.  

Mitchell Starc – 

The highest paid player in the history of IPL, Starc, has not been so economical as he conceded runs easily with an economy of 11.37 he got 12 wickets. Though he bowled some brilliant spells against LSG and MI, due to which the team managed to get the victory. 

Varun Chakarvarthy – 

He is currently the leading wicket-taker of the team with 18 wickets to his name. Above him are only two players Harshal Patel (24 wickets) and Jasprit Bumrah (20 wickets) in the purple cap list and these two will not be seen in the Playoffs matches. So his chance to get the purple cap is high if he bowled some magnificent spells. 

Harshit Rana – 

He is the leading wicket-taker in the pace department for the team as he took 16 wickets. Though his economy is 9.72, still he can get some early wickets which is highly useful later on. 

Vaibhav Arora – 

He has taken 9 wickets to the team and has an economy of 9.4. He is mostly getting the wickets in the Powerplay. 

Probable Playing 11 of KKR in Qualifier 1:

Shreyas Iyer ©, Sunil Narine, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy. 

Impact Player:Vaibhav Arora.

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) squad analysis: 

Pat Cummins © – 

Another Australian skipper leading his team to the Playoffs after David Warner. He is providing his team stability in both the departments. In his pocket he has taken 15 wickets with an economy of 9.23. At the start of the season, he was pretty much consistent with the bowl but in the last few matches he was little expensive in comparison to starting matches.

He didn’t get much time to bat as the team’s starting players are in fantastic form. But against RCB he scored 31 runs in 15 balls and showed his power in batting. 

Travis Head –

The inform destructive batter has discord the most runs for the team with 533 runs to his credit. He is currently in the 3rd place in the orange cap list. With a striker rate of 201.13 he scored one century and four half-centuries. He is mostly seen scoring good runs in the first innings while in the 2nd innings he was seen struggling a little, except in the run chase against LSG.

Abhishek Sharma – 

He is not less than a beast when he comes to open. He has the best strike rate in the team with 209.42 and has scored 467 runs in which 3 fifties were included. He is mostly seen consistent in both the innings. Out of three half-centuries, he scored 2 of them in the last two matches. 

Nitish Kumar Reddy – 

He is providing balance to the team by performing well in both the departments. He has scored 276 runs in 8 innings with a strike rate of 151.65. His average is 46 in this season and has registered two 50+ knocks to his name. In the bowling department, he has taken 3 wickets till now. 

Heinrich Klaasen (wk) – 

The wicket-keeper of the team has shown the power of his hard hitting whenever he came to bat. His strike rate is 183.17 and scored 381 runs. In this season he has managed three half-centuries till now and one of them came against KKR where he scored 63 runs. He has the ability to change the momentum of the match anytime and can be a huge destruction to the team in the death overs.  

Shahbaz Ahmed – 

Shahbaz has also impressed the team with his all-round performance. In his batting he got one half-century and has scored 189 runs in 9 innings and with the bowl he has taken 3 wickets. He provides an additional spinning option to the team. 

Abdul Samad – 

Samad with a strike rate of 178.02 managed 162 runs only. Though he didn’t score much but in some matches his destructive batting took the team score to a very high. In the death overs, he is not less than a beast. 

Rahul Tripathi – 

As Aiden Markram was unable to perform, Tripathi got the chance again. In the last match he batted aggressively and scored 33 runs in 18 balls. Also he played for Kolkata in the previous seasons which might also help him to get some good scores. 

Bhuvneshwar Kumar – 

At the start of the season he bowled some expensive spells but towards the end of the group stage round he performed brilliantly and got some brilliant spells. Till now he has taken 11 wickets with an economy of 9.12. In the match against RR, he took the wicket of Rovman Powell and gifted his team to a one run victory. 

T Natarajan – 

He is currently the leading wicket-taker of the team with 17 wickets to his name. But his economy is little on the higher side which is 9.25. In his 11 matches he has mostly taken wickets. His main advantage is taking wickets in the death overs which helped the team there.     

Jaydev Unadkat – 

He has taken 8 wickets for his team with an economy of 10.46. At the start of the season he was little economical in the death overs but as the season passed by he gave away runs quite easily.

Mayank Markande – 

The team’s main spinner has only 8 wickets to his name in 7 matches. Due to inconsistency his economy is close to 12.  

Probable Playing 11 of SRH in Qualifier 1:

Pat Cummins ©, Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Shahbaz Ahmed, Abdul Samad, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Jaydev Unadkat, Sanvir Singh. 

Impact Player: Vijayakanth Viyaskanth.

Head to Head (KKR vs SRH) in IPL:

They played 26 matches against each other in the IPL so far.

Pitch Report of KKR vs SRH in Qualifier 1:

This match will be played at Narendra Modi stadium, Ahmedabad. This pitch hasn’t witnessed many high scoring matches in this season. Only the match between GT and RCB, where both the teams get par 200 runs. Therefore it is expected to be a decent batting surface and chasing might be a good option here. Bowlers might be little effective in the 1st innings. 

Weather Report for the match between KKR vs SRH in Qualifier 1:

The last match between Kolkata and Gujarat was washed away due to rain, but this time there will be no chance of rain and a clear sky will be seen. Temperature will be around 44 degree celsius during daytime and at night it will touch 30 degree celsius. Humidity will be less than 25%.

Best 11 players for the match between KKR vs SRH (Qualifier 1): 

Heinrich Klaasen, Travis Head (vc), Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Abhishek Sharma, Sunil Narine ©, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins, Varun Chakaravarthy.