The second part of the double header of action in the Indian Premier League on Saturday comes from Eden Gardens where the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Sunrisers Hyderabad get their IPL 2024 season up and running.
These two sides flattered to deceive last season and are franchises who have been going in the wrong direction in recent times but one of them will get off the to the beginning of the season that they desire, while the other will be wondering if this is another campaign of struggle.
Kolkata Knight Riders
The Kolkata Knight Riders could only win six of their 14 games last season and will clearly be out to do better than that on this occasion. They have always had a side who could offer a challenge for this title but for some reason last term they struggled with the ball a little more than you would expect. That is something that will need to change this season if they are going to challenge but if the batting delivers like it did a year ago they won’t be far away if they have sorted things out with the ball.
The positive for the Knight Riders is that they have appreciated the issue they had and they went out to the auction and spent big to bring Mitchell Starc into the franchise. He is one of the best white ball bowlers in the world so you would imagine that will be a major signing for Kolkata. With the likes of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy they are sorted in the spin department so if Starc is the missing piece of the jigsaw the Knight Riders should go well.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
The Sunrisers Hyderabad were the worst of the lot last season and as such they have gone about making big changes. Daniel Vettori has been recruited as the coach of the side and they have been out and picked up Pat Cummins at the auction. He has been installed as captain and will lead the Sunrisers against his former franchise here. That should bring about a natural improvement for the Sunrisers but they will need their entire batting order to stand up.
That cost them dearly last term but they have worked hard to come up with a much stronger looking top six, one which will now include Travis Head at the top of the order as well as Heinrich Klaasen somewhere in the middle of it. With Cummins coming in at eight they no longer have a depth issue with their batting. If there is a problem for them it would be a lack of standout of top class spin options and that might catch up with them at some point.
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Key Players
All eyes will be on Mitchell Starc to see how he performs on his return to the Indian Premier League having not featured in the competition since 2015. If he can get into this Sunrisers batting order with the new ball it will set the home side up nicely.
Heinrich Klaasen has announced himself as one of the most brutal batters in the modern game and he might well get the platform to launch from here. He is particularly impressive against spin and if he gets going in this one Sunrisers will be well on their way.
Betting
When you consider the personnel that is on show in this match I am a little surprised that you can get a sixes line of 13.5 in this one. We know that Eden Gardens isn’t the biggest ground in the world and it certainly isn’t big enough to contain the likes of Heinrich Klaasen and Andre Russell. That is before you add in other clean hitters of a cricket ball such as Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Phil Salt, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Travis Head, Aiden Markram and others.
When these two sides met at Eden Gardens last season both teams put up over 200 and there were 22 sixes and in that match neither Andre Russell or Rahmanullah Gurbaz hit a six and Heinrich Klaasen came in late in the innings and only hit one so there is natural potential for a lot more sixes to come here. We are early in the season so you would imagine the pitches at Eden Gardens will favour the batters at this stage and I expect the sixes to flow.
Tips
Back Over 13.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.73 with Bet365
