🏏IPL 2026: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs KKR, M - 45th, Hyderabad 🏏

🏏IPL 2026: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, 45th Match, Hyderabad🏏

A red ball jagging around was not quite the visual you expected from an IPL training session, but that was Praful Hinge's chosen drill in Hyderabad. The pacer kept bowling at a bare set of stumps and getting the shiny SG ball to seam around, as if reminding himself that moving the new ball remains his biggest currency in this format and also perhaps the quickest way through his next opposition.

KKR's top-three own the worst average and the second-worst strike rate this season. For all the permutations and combinations, which have included going back to Sunil Narine at the top before shunting him back into the lower middle order, it is a side yet to settle on an opening equation that inspires either confidence or continuity, not helped by an out-of-sorts captain in Ajinkya Rahane batting at the top of the order. Hinge, despite a dip in returns after his dream debut, offers SRH a fair chance at asking those difficult questions upfront.

In a different centre net on the other side of the square, Narine appeared to audition for the opener's spot yet again with a long batting session, much of it spent trying to access pockets of a ground marginally bigger than Eden Gardens. Replacing him soon after was Finn Allen, another top-order experiment from earlier in the season whose like-for-like replacement in Tim Seifert has hardly shut the debate down, having returned ducks in each of the last two outings.

But despite the turmoil at the top, KKR seem to have found something to hold onto with back-to-back wins. This will only be their second game in two weeks, an oddly generous breather in the middle of a season that seems to have offered them time to reset. Now they run into a side that's strung together five wins in a row across home and away venues, and if Saturday's nets was any indication, the hosts also seem clear about where the earliest pressure point lies.

When: Sunday, 3 May 2026, at 3:30 PM local time

Where: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad

What to expect: It's going to be very hot in the middle, with temperatures as high as 40 degrees forecast for the afternoon. The game is set to be played on Pitch #3, which has already been used for fixtures against RR and CSK this season. While both matches were played under the lights, teams batting first won them. It could mean a slowish pitch on offer but as recent history would suggest, that's not a guarantee for middling totals in IPL. Certainly not in Hyderabad.

Head to head: SRH 11 - 20 KKR. In Hyderabad, it's 4-3 in favour of KKR.

Team watch

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Injuries/Unavailability: Assistant coach James Franklin confirmed that there were no injuries to report from the camp.

Tactics & Matchups: If Narine doesn't open, then KKR have a very right-heavy batting line-up, which means Harsh Dubey could keep his place ahead of Shivang Kumar despite the left-arm spinner's expensive outing against MI at the Wankhede. Also watch out for Heinrich Klaasen, who scores his runs at an SR of over 205 against Varun Chakaravarthy and is the only batter to have aggregated over 100 T20 runs against Narine without being dismissed even once.

Probable XII: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (w), Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Salil Arora, Aniket Verma, Pat Cummins (c), Harsh Dubey, Sakib Hussain, Praful Hinge, Eshan Malinga

Kolkata Knight Riders

Tactics & Matchups: If Pathirana plays, KKR will have an interesting call to make. They would either have to sacrifice an overseas opener or drop Rovman Powell. That could bring Rahul Tripathi or wicketkeeper-batter Tejasvi Dahiya into the mix, but will KKR want to shuffle a side that's learning to win? At least, there were no indications in the nets to suggest that either Tripathi or Dahiya might play. Also, watch out for how Vaibhav Arora, who has a favourable matchup against Abhishek Sharma, fares with the new ball. Narine, against whom Travis Head scores his runs at a strike-rate of 95.45, could take the new ball.

Probable XII: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Tim Seifert (w), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi, Varun Chakaravarthy

What they said

"It's a great opportunity for the bowlers against such a dangerous side. Yes, the bowlers have to find ways to be successful and we have bowlers like Sunil Narine who can do that" -Tim Southee, KKR bowling coach

"Klassy has come fresh into this IPL and is playing amazingly well down the order to help the team's cause" -James Franklin, SRH assistant coach

In the spotlight: Travis Head and KKR's opening combination

SRH's batting order has ticked along smoothly despite one half of their opening pair misfiring for much of the season. Travis Head, in particular, had managed just one score above 40 in his first eight outings and often struggled to get going but that changed against Mumbai Indians. He signalled his intent early by taking on Trent Boult for three sixes in the third over, and a standout moment was his audacious six and four off Jasprit Bumrah, which pretty much underlined his return to form. He eventually finished with 76 off 30 balls, and his form should worry KKR, given both SRH openers now appear to be in top form.

KKR, meanwhile, are yet to figure out their best opening combination this season eight games in. Tim Seifert has featured in three matches but has struggled for returns, including back-to-back ducks. KKR may be tempted to bring Finn Allen back into the XI, or if Matheesha Pathirana returns, they may reshuffe the order and consider pushing Sunil Narine up the order once more.

Stats and trivia

• Despite starting poorly, Vaibhav Arora has the joint-most wickets for KKR alongside Kartik Tyagi. Arora also has a favourable record against SRH's top order: he has dismissed Head twice in four meetings, removed Abhishek once in six innings while keeping him to a strike rate of just 78, and has got the better of Ishan Kishan three times in five meetings.

• Which Kishan will turn up for SRH on the day? He started the season with an 80 against RCB, and a few low scores later he made 91 off 44 balls against RR. He has three fifties so far but also has three single-digit scores, which include two golden ducks.

• Malinga has been having an excellent campaign, relying on his yorkers as well as slower balls. Across nine innings, he has picked up 14 wickets at an economy rate of 9.2. His slower deliveries have proven difficult to score off, yielding four wickets at an economy rate of 7.7.

Pitch and conditions

The match will be played on the same pitch that hosted the SRH vs RR game on April 13. All three completed matches before this season on this wicket were won chasing, while in the match against RR, SRH defended 216, with fast bowlers Hinge and Sakib sharing eight wickets. It is expected to be a scorching afternoon in Hyderabad, with temperatures hitting a high of 39 degree Celcius.

Thanks for the tag.....

thanks for the tag

Thank you Soni for the thread and for tagging.

Best wishes to both teams.