IPL 2021: 3 players you can pick as captain or vice-captain of your Dream11 team for the SRH vs KKR match
The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) take on the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Match 3 of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Both teams have some of the world's best T20 players in their ranks and will be eager to start off the new campaign with a win. SRH seem to be a very strong side on paper, with the return of Bhuvneshwar Kumar seriously beefing up their pace attack and giving them the freedom to play three overseas batsmen.
KKR, on the other hand, have a good blend of experienced overseas stars and talented young Indian players. Under the captaincy of Eoin Morgan, the 2-time champions will look to make the playoffs for the first time since 2018.
Both teams finished level on points in the IPL 2020 table, with SRH booking a playoff berth by virtue of their superior Net Run Rate (NRR).
SRH's squad for IPL 2021: David Warner, Kane Williamson, Virat Singh, Manish Pandey, Priyam Garg, Wriddhiman Saha, Jonny Bairstow, Sreevats Goswami, Vijay Shankar, Mitchell Marsh, Mohammad Nabi, Jason Holder, Abhishek Sharma, Abdul Samad, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, T Natarajan, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddarth Kaul, Basil Thampi, Shahbaz Nadeem, Kedar Jadhav, Jagadeesha Suchith, Mujeeb Ur Rahman
KKR's squad for IPL 2021: Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik, Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Rahul Tripathi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Tim Seifert, Shakib Al Hasan, Sheldon Jackson, Vaibhav Arora, Karun Nair, Harbhajan Singh, Ben Cutting, Venkatesh Iyer, Pawan Negi
Here are 3 players who could be the captain or vice-captain of your Dream11 team for the SRH vs KKR IPL 2021 game.
#3 Bhuvneshwar Kumar (SRH)
Bhuvneshwar Kumar's injury during IPL 2020 severely depleted SRH's pace attack and cost them a lot of momentum. However, the 31-year-old returned to play the white-ball leg of the recently concluded series between India and England, and surprisingly looked like his razor-sharp self.
Bhuvneshwar will be crucial to SRH's fortunes in this year's tournament. He is the leader of the pace attack, and will be tasked with taking wickets both in the powerplay and at the death.
As we witnessed in the opening game between MI and RCB, the Chennai wicket is on the slower side and the ball didn't come onto the bat nicely. Bhuvneshwar can certainly exploit this with his subtle variations in pace and pinpoint accuracy, and is hence a good choice to be the captain or vice-captain of your Dream11 team for the SRH vs KKR IPL 2021 game.
#2 Shubman Gill (KKR)
Shubman Gill was the only constant at the top of the order for KKR in IPL 2020. The 21-year-old was the highest run-scorer for the franchise, and although his strike rate was an ordinary 117.96, he was one of the bright sparks from an otherwise disappointing season for KKR.
Gill is now in the Indian setup in all three formats after some stellar performances in the red-ball leg of India's tour of Australia. He will be eager to make a run for this year's Orange Cap and present his case for a spot in the T20 World Cup scheduled to take place later this year.
Gill is a good player of spin and can carry out the anchor role in the KKR batting order. He will also be high on confidence and can be backed to score quite a few runs.
#1 Rashid Khan (SRH)
Not much needs to be said about Rashid Khan, who is undoubtedly the best spin bowler in the shortest format of the game. The Afghan mystery spinner always seems to be able to outsmart the batsmen, and is David Warner's go-to man to break partnerships.
Rashid will once again be tasked with plucking wickets and stopping the flow of runs in the middle overs. Although the pitch in Chennai in the IPL 2021 opener didn't offer an abundance of spin, it is still a good surface for the slow bowlers to bowl on if they choose the right lengths. The big boundaries of the MA Chidambaram Stadium will also help their cause.
Apart from his bowling, Rashid can also provide some lusty blows with the bat towards the end of the innings. As the captain or vice-captain of your Dream11 team for the SRH vs KKR IPL 2021 match, Rashid could return a huge points haul.