3 player battles to watch out for in SRH vs KKR, Match 68 of IPL 2025 ft. Ajinkya Rahane
The SunRisers Hyderabad will play the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the 68th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Sunday, May 25, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. The two teams met earlier this season, where KKR triumphed by 80 runs at Eden Gardens.
SRH had been mainly inconsistent at the start of IPL 2025, losing a few games on the trot. They couldn't recover from that and, as a result, are currently eighth with 11 points in 13 games. However, the SunRisers have won their last two matches and will look to finish the campaign strongly.
KKR, the winner of IPL 2024, have also been just a shadow of the last season. The players failed to step up during crunch situations; thus, they find themselves in the second half of the season. However, the Knight Riders will be keen to end the season with a win tonight.
Both teams have a few in-form players, and their duels will be worth watching. On that note, we take a look at three interesting player battles to watch out for.
#1 Ajinkya Rahane vs Pat Cummins
The KKR skipper has been one of their best batters, scoring quick runs at the top. Ajinkya Rahane will have to play another defining knock if the Knight Riders want to walk away with a win tonight.
However, the senior Indian batter will come up against SRH skipper Pat Cummins, who has bowled exceedingly well in the powerplays, picking up 12 wickets in seven games at an economy rate of 7.37.
Rahane has scored only 26 runs off 18 deliveries against Cummins while getting out only once in T20s.
#2 Heinrich Klaasen vs Varun Chakravarthy
The SRH wicketkeeper-batter has been in decent form, scoring quick runs for the team in the middle overs. Heinrich Klaasen will be tasked with a similar job when Hyderabad take on KKR.
However, the South African cricketer could be challenged by Kolkata's Varun Chakravarthy, who has been a dominating figure for the team during the middle overs. Klaasen has enjoyed a decent record against Varun in the shortest format, and the onus will be on the latter to devise a plan to stop the hard-hitting batter.
In the shortest format of the game, Klaasen has scored 76 runs off 41 balls against Varun while getting out only once.
#3 Andre Russell vs Harshal Patel
After struggling with the bat for most of the IPL 2025, Andre Russell found his mojo in the last two games, where he was seen in his usual form, hitting the balls out of the park. Russell, who has had an average season, will look to finish the campaign with a good performance tonight.
SRH, on the other hand, will look to keep Russell in check. Harshal Patel, last year's Purple Cap winner, could be an ideal man for the job. The Haryana cricketer has a good back-of-the-hand slower delivery and can also hit the difficult lengths, which could trouble the batter.
Harshal has troubled Russell in the past, bowling 14 dot deliveries and getting him out twice in T20s.