Kolkata and Hyderabad face off each other to open their account in the Indian T20 League 2020.
Team Preview
Hyderabad makes travel to Abu Dhabi to search victory in the Indian T20 League and Kolkata’s story is also quite similar. The injury issue and some unexpected errors delivered Hyderabad 10-runs defeat against Bangalore. Despite having a solid opening partnership, Hyderabad bowlers restricted Bangalore on a good total. In the chase, Bairstow and Pandey carried their hopes to a win but the late strikes from Chahal and some bad shots spoiled the party for Warner & Co. Mitchell Marsh has already been ruled out due to the injury and Holder will replace him as the replacement but he will be unavailable for the selection,. Warner could try Nabi or Allen as the 4th overseas in Abu Dhabi.
Meanwhile, Kolkata also went into the defeating zone after a horror show against Mumbai. Cummins went for 49 runs in just 3-overs and Kuldeep Yadav was not effective, despite having a good economy. Karthik-led side stopped Mumbai below 200 and hope to change the fortune with a strong batting unit. The batting also collapsed in the chase and the run-rate issues also made them play bad shots. Karthik might change their batting order and could try Morgan early in the batting-order. Kolkata is a strong unit on paper and one defeat cannot change their chances in the tournament. Against a struggling Hyderabad, Kolkata are the favourites to add the first victory of the season.
Pitch Report
Sheikh Zayed Stadium is a batting paradise and it turns out to be a proper batting-friendly wicket. The dew is always a good factor to bowl first after winning the toss. The weather is pretty good in UAE, a perfect T20 condition.
Possible XI
Kolkata
Sunil Narine, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik (c & wk), Nikhil Naik, Pat Cummins, Kuldeep Yadav, Sandeep Warrier/Prasidh Krishna, Shivam Mavi
Hyderabad
David Warner (c), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Manish Pandey, Priyam Garg, Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, Mohammed Nabi/Fab Allen, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan
Key Players
Kolkata
Eoin Morgan
Top scorer in T20Is for England in last one year, blistering strike rate
Sunil Narine
Caribbean T20 League 2020 – Runs: 144, SR: 148.45, Wickets: 6
Previous outing: 22/1 & 9
Hyderabad
David Warner
Last season – Runs: 692, Avg: 69.2, SR: 143.86
Jonny Bairstow
Last season – Runs: 445, Avg: 55.62, SR: 157.24
Previous outing: 61 (43)
