Last Updated on 2 weeks by Charbel Coorey

KKR vs SRH Dream11 Prediction & Fan2Play Possible 11 Pitch Report: IPL 2022 Match 61 | KOL vs SRH Dream11 Prediction Today | Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad Key Players | Pune Pitch Report

Win and move to two points within Royal Challengers Bangalore. Lose and it’s just about season over.

That is the equation facing Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders today. Both teams have endured indifferent campaigns, with periods of good form outdone by prolonged runs of poor results. SRH have lost their past four after winning five in a row, while KKR got a much-needed victory over Mumbai Indians after losing six of their previous seven. It’s must-win territory.

SRH will be hoping both Washington Sundar and T Natarajan are fit. According to reports, they are set to play, and the men in orange need them badly as they have missed their respective influences. Also, more is needed from Kane Williamson, whose low strike rate has been the subject of attention at this year’s IPL.

For KKR, it’s about building on the big 52-run win over MI earlier this week. However, as Jasprit Bumrah’s 5/10 showed, their batting consistency is clearly an issue, but one positive they can draw from is that the Venkatesh Iyer-Ajinkya Rahane opening combination might be their best bet.

Possible Playing 11

Pat Cummins is out for the rest of IPL 2022 with a hip injury. KKR could replace him with Aaron Finch, but they might not want to disrupt the opening combination. So, Sam Billings is an option.

Also, Umesh Yadav is a chance of returning, but there is no official word yet.

Kolkata Knight Riders: 1. Ajinkya Rahane, 2. Venkatesh Iyer, 3. Shreyas Iyer (c), 4. Nitish Rana, 5. Rinku Singh, 6. Sam Billings (wk), 7. Andre Russell, 8. Umesh Yadav/Shivam Mavi, 9. Sunil Narine, 10. Tim Southee, 11. Varun Chakravarthy

T Natarajan and Washington Sundar could return for SRH.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1. Kane Williamson (c), 2. Abhishek Sharma, 3. Rahul Tripathi, 4. Aiden Markram, 5. Nicholas Pooran (wk), 6. Shashank Singh, 7. Washington Sundar/J Suchith, 8. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9. Marco Jansen/Fazalhaq Farooqi/Romario Shepherd, 10. Umran Malik, 11. T Natarajan/Kartik Tyagi

Key Players to Watch/Key Stats

Kolkata Knight Riders:

• The ever-present Andre Russell is almost a certainty for all fantasy teams. With Pat Cummins out and Umesh Yadav still in doubt, Russell is likely to do more bowling. He is KKR’s second-highest wicket-taker this season (14) with a strike rate of 9.0. Also, he has smashed 281 runs at a strike rate of 183.66, including a 25-ball 49* vs SRH.
• Venkatesh Iyer stormed back into form last game with a 24-ball 43. If he puts SRH under pressure early, it will trigger recent memories of Kane Williamson’s team conceding three 190+ scores in their past four matches.
• SRH is Shreyas Iyer’s second-most prolific opponent (406 runs). He averages 33.83 against them with a strike rate of 113.73, including a 25-ball 28 earlier this season. He has struck seven 20+ scores in 12 matches this season.
• Nitish Rana struck 54 off 36 balls against SRH earlier in IPL 2022. He has a good overall record for KKR against SRH (10 inns, 340 runs, avg. 34.00, SR 134.39).
• However, Rana doesn’t have the most favourable of matchups against SRH’s key bowlers. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has dismissed him twice in 33 balls (39 runs), T Natarajan twice in 26 balls (40 runs) and Washington Sundar twice in 18 balls (22 runs).
• Tim Southee has taken eight wickets in his last six matches against SRH at an average of 23.75. Also, he has been terrific this season, with 12 wickets in seven games at an average of 16.25 and an economy of 7.22. He will be key in exploiting SRH’s powerplay struggles.

Sunrisers Hyderabad:

• Rahul Tripathi was player of the match against KKR earlier this season. He belted 71 off 37 balls. He has a very favourable matchup against Sunil Narine, with 67 runs off 36 balls for no dismissal in the IPL.
• Aiden Markram also starred against KKR this season. He belted a 36-ball 68*, part of 326 runs in nine innings at an average of 65.20 and a strike rate of 142.98 in IPL 2022. Also, he scored 57* off 41 at Pune earlier this season.
• KKR are conceding 11.32 runs per over at the death in IPL 2022. So, Nicholas Pooran can pounce. The keeper-batsman has five not outs to his name in 10 innings, with a total of 261 runs at an average of 52.20 and strike rate of 147.45.
• SRH will be hoping T Natarajan is fit and firing. He took 3/37 vs KKR earlier this season, part of 17 wickets in just nine matches in IPL 2022. Six have come in the powerplay and eight at the death (second-most).
• Natarajan has dismissed Russell once in nine balls in the IPL, whilst only conceding 13.
• Umran Malik is wicketless in his past three matches, but we saw how KKR struggled against the pace of Jasprit Bumrah a few nights ago. Malik took 2/27 against KKR earlier this season, which included the wicket of Shreyas Iyer.
• Bhuvneshwar Kumar has enjoyed success against Ajinkya Rahane. He has dismissed him six times in 96 balls, whilst only conceding 89. He also has an excellent record against Shreyas Iyer: 44 runs, 49 balls, three dismissals.

Other Stats and Facts

• Head-to-head: Matches 22, KKR 14, SRH 8.
• SRH (176/3) beat KKR (175/8) with 15 balls to spare earlier in IPL 2022.
• Rinku Singh has struck scores of 23*, 6, 42*, 23 and 35. Also, he has taken nine catches and inflicted one run-out.
• Andre Russell has smashed 51 runs off 21 balls against Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the IPL (one dismissal).
• Russell has dismissed Nicholas Pooran five times in 75 balls in T20s (113 runs).
• Kane Williamson has a strike rate of 96.13 in IPL 2022. This is the lowest for any batsman with at least 100 runs.
• If Washington Sundar is unavailable, J Suchith remains a handy replacement. He is yet to go wicketless this season, with six wickets in four matches at a strike rate of 14.
• Sunil Narine has taken just 10 wickets in 19 matches vs SRH (avg. 47.50).

Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium Pune Pitch Report and Weather

Nine of the 12 matches on this ground have been won by the team batting first, including the past six. The average first innings score in the past six matches is 165.33, with the teams batting second faltering badly in the past two games (101 by KKR vs LSG and 82 by LSG vs GT).

The surface has showed signs of being two-paced. So, the captain who wins the toss might be tempted to bat first and try get 160+ on the board despite the likely presence of dew.

KKR vs SRH Dream11 Prediction 14 May 2022

Note: The below teams are not based on the final playing XIs. We may not be able to update these in time. Use the stats and commentary in this article as well as your own instincts to create your teams.

Option 1:

Option 2:

Fan2Play Prediction

Base team:

• Wicket-keepers: Nicholas Pooran
• Batsmen: Shreyas Iyer, Rahul Tripathi
• All-rounders: Andre Russell, Aiden Markram
• Bowlers: Tim Southee, T Natarajan

Match Prediction

A score above 160 promises to be a difficult chase on a ground where batting first is the way to go.