The stage is set for a rematch of last IPL season’s final with the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders gearing up for a league encounter against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Eden Gardens on Thursday. Both teams come into the contest having lost two of their last three games, adding extra urgency to their campaigns. With KKR already expressing disappointment over the Eden pitch, tensions are high, setting the scene for an intense showdown.

The controversy over the Eden pitch erupted after the home side suffered a seven-wicket defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the season opener. Former KKR opener Phil Salt and Virat Kohli took the home attack to the cleaners, stitching a 95-run stand off just 51 balls in a one-sided chase of 175.

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According to reports, Eden curator Sujan Mukherjee had declined KKR’s request for a spin-friendly track in their opening match. However, after facing backlash, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has been under pressure to produce a track that aids KKR’s spin-heavy attack, comprising Sunil Narine, Moeen Ali and Varun Chakravarthy. In fact, the calls for a pitch favouring the home side grew louder after Chakravarthy, one of KKR’s key spinners, leaked 45 runs in the opener.

But beyond the pitch, the team’s composition has been far from impressive in the season so far, despite Ajinkya Rahane’s side managing to win their match against Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati before being mauled by Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede in the third game of the season.

The core of the IPL-winning unit of 2024, including former skipper Shreyas Iyer (moved to Punjab Kings), his deputy Nitish Rana (RR) and pace spearhead Mitchell Starc (DC), have displayed excellent form in the first 10 days of the IPL. To rub ‘Salt’ to their wounds, Phil has already proved his worth for RCB.

Starc, who returned a career-best 5/35 for Delhi Capitals against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their last outing, could be the biggest miss in the KKR bowling attack that lacks the sting. His Aussie counterpart Spencer Johnson has been far from impressive while Anrich Nortje remains sidelined with a back injury.

KKR’s retained players — Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Harshit Rana, and Ramandeep Singh are yet to set the stage on fire.

On the other hand, SRH’s ultra-aggressive batting approach did seem to work in their season opener but have struggled to breach the 200-run mark in their last two games. Their high-risk cricket has completely backfired against Lucknow Super Giants (190/9) and Delhi Capitals (163 all out), resulting in consecutive defeats.

Going in to Thursday’s match, Pat Cummins and the leadership group will have to reassess their batting approach. Leading the bowling attack, the skipper and his new ball partner Mohammed Shami could be a potential threat to the struggling KKR batting at the Eden.

Squads:

Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Rinku Singh, Quinton de Kock (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Luvnith Sisodia, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali, Ramandeep Singh, Andre Russell, Anrich Nortje, Vaibhav Arora, Mayank Markande, Spencer Johnson, Harshit Rana, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Chetan Sakariya.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Atharva Taide, Abhinav Manohar, Aniket Verma, Sachin Baby, Heinrich Klaasen, Travis Head, Harshal Patel, Kamindu Mendis, Wiaan Mulder, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Shami, Rahul Chahar, Adam Zampa, Simarjeet Singh, Zeeshan Ansari, Jaydev Unadkat and Eshan Malinga.