The Match 15 of the Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL 2025) will see Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) taking on each other on Thursday, April 3 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Both teams have failed to get on a winning run having lost two out of the three matches played so far. Kolkata began their title defence with a crushing seven-wicket loss in the opening encounter against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
However, they made a remarkable comeback by winning the next fixture comprehensively against Rajasthan Royals (RR) with an eight-wicket win. KKR’s campaign was again halted by Mumbai Indians (MI) in the third fixture, who crushed them by eight wickets. As a result, the Ajinkya Rahane-led side find themselves reeling at the bottom of the points table having just two points to their name.
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KKR’s middle order has failed to fire so far in the competition with Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh and Andre Russel failing to notch up big scores. Their failure was one of the major reasons behind their two losses so far in the competition. The bowling department has also failed to fire collectively, barring one game against Lucknow.
Hence, the Ajinkya Rahane-led side need to regroup quickly to bring their campaign back on track. On the other hand, Sunrisers Hyderabad also find themselves in a fix having lost back-to-back matches against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Delhi Capitals (DC).
They began their campaign, continuing from where they left off in the previous season and notched up the second-highest score in the history of the tournament of 286/6 against Rajasthan Royals (RR). However, their wham-bam approach didn’t turn out to be fruitful against LSG and DC as they ended up facing crushing defeats.
However, despite their losses, captain Pat Cummins has made a statement that they will not go into a shell and will continue to unleash their wrath on the bowlers. It remains to be seen whether SRH will be able to dominate the defending in their home den, who hold the upper hand over them.
HEAD-TO-HEAD: KKR vs SRH
Kolkata and Hyderabad have locked horns in 28 matches so far in the tournament and KKR have dominated the fixtures between the two teams having won 18 out of 28 matches. One game ended in a tie, where also, KKR emerged victorious in the super over. At the Eden Gardens, KKR hold an even upper hand, having won seven out of the ten matches.
Team News: KKR vs SRH
Fast bowler Anrich Nortje is still not 100% fit for the fixture, as revealed by mentor Dwayne Bravo in the pre-match press conference. Hence, he’s unlikely to play his first game of the season. On the other hand, there are no injury concerns in the SRH camp.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Predicted XI: Sunil Narine, Quinton de Kock (wk), Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Moeen Ali, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy
Impact Player: Vaibhav Arora
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) Predicted XI: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Aniket Verma, Abhinav Manohar, Pat Cummins, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Shami, Rahul Chahar/Zeeshan Ansari
Impact Player: Adam Zampa
Pitch Conditions: KKR vs SRH
With the massive scrutiny on the pitch from all around, the surface is expected to be the usual Eden surface where batters will enjoy their outing while spinners will also find good assistance. A high-scoring affair is likely to be on the cards, given the batting powerhouses of the two teams.
