IPL
Kolkata/UNI: After pulling off an incredible heist against the defending champions Gujarat Titans at their homeground, Kolkata Knight Knights return home to host Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Eden Gardens on Friday.
Kolkata enjoy a great record against Hyderabad, winning 15 out of the 23 matches the sides have played against each other and will look to add another win.
Buoyed by two back-to-back wins which saw heroics from the likes of Shardul Thakur, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer and Skipper Rana, Kolkata think tank will be proud of how the season has started after suffering from major injury setbacks in pre-season.
The good news from the camp is that both English opener Jason Roy and Litton Das are now available for selection. This gives coach Chandrakant Pandit and company a privileged selection headache to deal with going into the game.
Lockie Ferguson played his first game of the season against Gujarat Titans and Kolkata will be hoping the Kiwi pacer keeps bowling 150+ consistently.
The game against Royal Challengers Bangalore earlier this month is an indicator that the side can expect the conditions to favour the batsmen once again.
However, with the heat peaking in Kolkata, a dry surface at the Eden could aid the spinners as well. Spin twins Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy and youngster Suyash Sharma could once again have key roles to play on Friday night.
Hyderabad started the season with two back-to-back losses at the hands of Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants.
However, they bounced back on Sunday beating Punjab Kings in convincing fashion to get their season off the mark and will come into the game in Eden with confidence.
The last time Kolkata went toe-to-toe with Hyderabad, an all-round show from Andre Russell powered the team to a win by 54 runs.
Russell top-scored with the bat scoring 49* of 28 balls and then grabbed 3 wickets for 22 runs, helping Kolkata defend 178 in Pune.
Come Friday, Kolkata will go out there to continue their recent run of form and good fortunes over Hyderabad in the IPL.
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