IPL 2019: Match 2, KKR vs SRH Match Prediction: Who will win today's match
Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders will begin their respective IPL campaigns on Sunday, with the 2nd match of IPL 2019 being played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Sunrisers Hyderabad reached the finals of the tournament last year and will be buoyed by the return of their most successful batsman David Warner.
Also, with the likes of Rashid Khan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the team, SRH's bowling looks intimidating. The only weakness that the team has is its middle order which underperformed last season. But with Vijay Shankar in the team, SRH will be much more confident about it this time around.
Kolkata Knight Riders, on the other hand, are in a spot of bother with three of their fast bowlers ruled out of the tournament. Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi and Anrich Nortje won't be available for the entire season due to injuries. Thus, the onus will be on the experienced players Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa and Andre Russell to compensate for a weak bowling attack.
If KKR bat first
Kolkata Knight Riders will look to put up a big total considering their weak bowling attack. However, SRH have one of the best bowling line-ups in the tournament and it won't be an easy task for the KKR batsmen to score anything more than 160 runs.
If SRH bat first
SRH will surely go after KKR's inexperienced fast bowlers. The Sunrisers have a strong top order and they will want to make the most of the powerplay overs. And even though KKR have Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav up their sleeve, the Sunrisers will target a score in excess of 180 or even 200.
Who will win?
Looking at both the sides on paper, SRH will start as the firm favourite to win their opening encounter. KKR will have to come up with something special to avoid a defeat in front of their home crowd, but ultimately SRH have far too much firepower and should come away with a victory.