Two top-performing teams this season, Kolkata Knight Riders and SunRisers Hyderabad, will face off in IPL 2024 Qualifier 1 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Tuesday (May 21). While the winner of this game will directly qualify for the final scheduled on May 26 in Chennai, the loser will have another shot at glory, facing the winner of the Eliminator in Qualifier 2. With plenty at stake, here’s the match preview and result prediction of the KKR vs SRH tie in IPL 2024.

Match Preview

Both KKR and SRH dominated the league stages like none other. While KKR finished on the top points table for the first time with 20 points, SRH redeemed them (from last season’s bottom finish) by finishing second this year, ahead of Rajasthan Royals, who stayed ahead in the race for the longest time. 

Although KKR leads SRH 17-9 in the head-to-head tally, they cannot discount their performance under newly-appointed captain Pat Cummins. 

With English opener Phil Salt returning home for the Pakistan series, KKR will rope in Afghanistan batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz as his replacement at the top.

A solid middle-order also makes up for Salt’s absence, with the onus on the captain Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer and star all-rounder Andre Russell.

KKR’s bowling attack has been on point this season, with the management backing them to do wonders against bat-heavy SRH.

Meanwhile, the SunRisers Hyderabad has torn apart almost every attack this year, with star pair Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head being the protagonists. Both lefties have scored over a strike rate of 200 in IPL 2024, resulting in SRH crossing 250 thrice – the most by a team in this tournament. 

Nitish Reddy’s inclusion has upped their game, while their sorted bowling attack, led by Cummins, is sure of making a game out of any situation.

With the game scheduled at a neutral venue, both teams aim to come on top and punch their ticket for the IPL 2024 final.

Predicted Playing XIs of both teams –

KKR – Rahamanullah Gurbaz (wk), Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi/Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana and Varun Chakaravarthy

SRH – Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Reddy, Rahul Tripathi, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Sanvir Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Vijayakanth Viyaskanth

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