Three bets that will help you cash out in the KKR vs SRH game
Warner celebrating with Bairstow
|IPL Twitter
Two teams with similar fortunes of losing out in their opening encounter, KKR and SRH will look to correct the wrongs as they clash on September 26 in Abu Dhabi. While SRH's middle-order stood exposed last game, for Dinesh Karthik's KKR, not only their bowling but batting also failed miserably.
Highest opening partnership- SRH @1.75
Last three IPL games:
KKR- 14, 49, 62
SRH- 18, 31, 46
Head-to-head:
KKR- 42, 7
SRH- 131, 118
KKR openers might have added more runs than SRH opening batsmen in the last three IPL games but things have drastically changed with time. KKR no longer have Chris Lynn with a struggling Narine at the top, who we don't even know whether will open with Gill against SRH or not. On the other hand, in the last two of the three games for SRH, Guptill and Saha opened and hence there were lesser returns. Now, with David Warner and Jonny Bairstow back, SRH are favorites to add more runs for the first wicket.
In last two H2H games between these two sides, Bairstow-Warner added 131 and 118 runs respectively for the opening wicket, moreover, in 2019 IPL, they added 791 runs in the 10 matches they played together scoring 48% of Sunrisers' total runs while losing only 0.64 wickets and blasting 55.92 runs on an average in the first six overs. In comparison, KKR had the second-worst average powerplay score (47.85) and only CSK (1.71) lost more wickets than them (1.42) in the first six overs. So, it's as straight forward a bet as it gets. On one hand, KKR are struggling with openers, on the other, SRH have arguably, the best openers in the tournament.
David Warner- Runs Over 28.5 @1.83
Last three IPL games- 6, 81, 37
Head-to-head- 67, 85
Venue- 32
Warner vs KKR- 829 runs, Avg: 43.63, S/R: 147.77
David Warner was unlucky to get dismissed on 6 in the last game but a game against KKR might well turn out to be the inception of his brilliant run in the 2020 IPL. In the last two games against KKR, the southpaw made scores of 67 and 85 and he fancies facing Dinesh Karthik's bowlers as his twin opening century stands against the Kolkata-based franchise, last IPL, is a testament to that. Given how KKR bowlers struggled in the last game against Mumbai conceding 195 runs at the same venue with Cummins and Kuldeep putting up a listless show, Warner might well even get a big score, forget 28.5.
The three-time orange cap winner, Warner, over the years, has been one of the best batsmen in the IPL. The left-hander has struggled of late but given his track record of great returns against the Knights, this might be the match for him to make a big turnaround. Overall, the Aussie opener has 829 runs against Kolkata at 43.63 with a strike-rate of 147.77.
Dinesh Karthik- Runs Under 20.5 @1.83
Last three IPL games- 30, 3, 21
Head-to-head- 6, 2
Venue- 30, 21
DK vs SRH- 230 runs, Avg: 15.33, S/R- 110.05
Dinesh Karthik hates facing SRH bowlers as much as David Warner loves the KKR bowlers. If it was for any other team, one wouldn't consider it a big deal for DK to cross the 20-run-barrier as his last three IPL scores and record at the venue suggests, which not might be overtly great but still mostly above 20 runs but SRH has been his Achillies heel in the IPL. The wicket-keeper batsman has merely made 230 runs in 16 innings against the Hyderabad-based franchise with his worst average (15.33) against any side in the IPL, while his strike-rate falls from close to 130, overall, to 110.05.
The Tamil Nadu batsman's last two games against SRH has resulted in single-digit scores of 6 and 2. His strike-rate against Hyderabad's best two bowlers, Rashid Khan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, has been 116 and 112.77 respectively, which paints a bleak picture for Karthik, who will already be down as his team replicated last year's horror show in the opening encounter. In 2019 IPL, the middle-order batsman had made 253 runs at 31.63, which was nowhere near his 2018 exploits.
