KKR vs SRH: Two Bruised Sides Meet at Eden as Bowlers Search for Answers
Two games in. Two losses each. Something has to give.
KKR host SRH at Eden Gardens on Thursday in a match both sides desperately need. The Knight Riders were beaten by Mumbai Indians in their opener, the Sunrisers by RCB. Neither performance suggested a team firing.
KKR’s bowling problems run deep. Harshit Rana and Akash Deep are both injured. Matheesha Pathirana has not yet been cleared to play. Cameron Green is nursing a back issue and only now returning to nets. That leaves Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy carrying heavy loads — and both leaked in the MI game.
SRH are not much better off. Their attack is one-dimensional — Unadkat, Payne and Harshal Patel all cut-and-variation merchants. Brydon Carse, their one genuine pace threat, remains injured. In Eshan Malinga’s place against RCB, they turned to Nitish Kumar Reddy to open the bowling. Whether that was a plan or a panic is still unclear.
Eden Gardens is a batting paradise. Both camps know it. Whoever finds a Plan B with the ball first wins.