🏏IPL 2025 - Match 68: KKR vs SRH at Delhi @ 7:30pm🏏 - Page 3

Opponents Sunrisers Hyderabad started off with a bang, as they smashed 286 runs in their opening game, but that turned out to be a bit of a false flag operation. Since then, their gung-ho aggression has been successfully neutered by most other teams, as the Orange Army was blighted with a few losses. The demigod like Pat Cummins looked more like a mere mortal this season, as he and the bowlers around him were often sent on a leather hunt. Sunrisers batters haven’t necessarily performed too well either, as the dangerous duo of Travi-shek hardly got going this time around, while Ishan Kishan had a string of failures sandwiched between two big knocks. The SRH team have an opportunity to end their season on a high, but KKR would want the same for themselves. Stick around for the toss…

Pitch Report | Deep Dasgupta and Varun Aaron: "We are in the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, for the final time this season but the pitch that is going to be used here this evening is a fresh one. It hasn't been used so far this season. Let's have a look at the dimensions because there is a bias - 67m and 60m square boundaries, straight down is 73m. Irrespective of the pitches, this venue has been a high-scoring one. This is wicket no. 6, nothing played here yet but I think the story is going to be pretty much similar. If you look at the wicket, lot of dry grass, it's been rolled really well, there's a nice sheen coming from the lights, but I think it's bad news fast bowlers, good news spinners because in the middle, the spinners can control the game really well. KKR are going to be really happy looking at this wicket. It's got cracks, but the cracks are not opening up anytime soon, that's for sure. The sheen would mean that it's coming on to the bat nicely but the only issue is bounce, it generally stays a little low here at this venue. That makes the fast bowlers target the stumps. You target the stumps, get lbw and bowled in play and you can be amongst the wickets. But if you're wide on these small boundaries, you're gonna go for plenty. This is a really good pitch to bat on, be careful it might stay a little low, that's about it. Lot of credit to Ankit (curator) and his team of groundsmen here. It's been raining quite heavily, last couple of days, they've managed to prepare a really good pitch, especially if you're a batter."

Pat Cummins: Will bat first, looks like a good wicket.

Sunrisers Hyderabad have won the toss and have opted to bat

Toss time: Ajinkya Rahane calls Heads, it lands a Tail

SRH captain Pat Cummins has the coin. Ajinkya Rahane calls heads, it is a tail. SRH will bat in Delhi.

Pat Cummins: The bowlers have been smart in their decision making, the batters have been in form. You always hope you find it early and it continues. We know what our best is and we hope to continue in the next few years. We need to find the consistency. No changes.

Teams:

Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Anrich Nortje, Varun Chakaravarthy

Kolkata Knight Riders Impact Subs: Anukul Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Spencer Johnson, Luvnith Sisodia

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan(w), Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhinav Manohar, Pat Cummins(c), Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga

Sunrisers Hyderabad Impact Subs: Mohammad Shami, Harsh Dubey, Sachin Baby, Zeeshan Ansari, Simarjeet Singh.

Ajinkya Rahane: We were looking to bowl first as well. We are playing after 18 days. It has been challenging but we have tried to focus on the controllables. We know after this game everyone is going home. We want to play to win, for the fans, for the franchise. We had our chances, we had our moments. We have worked hard as individuals but it has not gone out way. We want to play for fans and pride. [On Raghuvanshi] Angkrish is a phenomenal batter. He has adapted brilliantly. Hereon he will go further ahead, try to play for India as well. No changes, I think... follows it up with I am not sure.

KKR plz jeet jana aj

Nortje and extras

Since the 2024 IPL, this is the first time a team opted to bat first in Delhi (12 games).