Venue: Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium, Pune
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Average score at venue (1st inns): 171
Win percentage while batting first: 75%
Pitch conditions:
- With the success rate after batting first as high as 75% at the MCA Stadium in Pune, teams will hope to win the coin toss and make most of the advantage that this venue has to offer.
- Teams who have batted first have won each of the last 6 matches played here in the Indian T20 League tournament.
- The fast bowlers have a wicket-share of 70.55% compared to the spin bowlers who have taken 29.45%.
Weather prediction:
The skies will be mostly clear on Saturday night with the temperature being under 30°C during the match hours. The humidity levels will be between 55-75%.
HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD (overall):
Matches played: 22
Kolkata won: 14
Hyderabad won: 8
No result: -
Top 3 players from Kolkata: Shreyas Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine
Top 3 players from Hyderabad: Aiden Markram, Rahul Tripathi, Abhishek Sharma
Top picks for H2H/WTA contest (top 5 players each):
Top 5 players from Kolkata: Shreyas Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer
Top 5 players from Hyderabad: Aiden Markram, Rahul Tripathi, Abhishek Sharma, Umran Malik, Kane Williamson
Q & A:
Fantasy tips and tricks: Should I pick more bowlers, batsmen or all-rounders?
For the contest to be played at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune where teams batting first have won each of the last 6 matches, it becomes imperative to stack up the batting line-up and hope for the selected batsmen to fire on all cylinders as far as fantasy cricket playing XI is concerned. The pitch is totally supportive towards batsmen in the first innings and teams will look to apply scoreboard pressure on each other.
Fantasy tips: From which team should I pick more players in my XI? Which team is stronger?
There are no clear favourites in the contest between teams Hyderabad and Kolkata, who are ranked in the bottom half of the points table and have an incredibly tough road ahead in case they have to finish in the final four. Hyderabad have 5 wins from 11 matches and 6 losses putting them at the 7th spot in the points table, whereas Kolkata are one place below at the 8th spot with 5 wins in 12 matches and 6 defeats giving them a lot of headache to deal with. But on the basis of the current form, Kolkata are certainly looking a better side for they have 2 wins to show from last 5 matches, and are a more confident bunch than Hyderabad who have lost 4 matches in a row.
MORE INFORMATION: In order to have the best chance possible of making it to the final four teams who will play the knockouts round, Hyderabad will have to win each of their remaining 3 matches. But in case they are not able to do so, the Kane Williamson-led team will have to hope for favours from teams such as Bangalore and Rajasthan. On the other hand, the road ahead is incredibly challenging for the two-time winners Kolkata as well, who will be without Pat Cummins with the Australian Test captain going back home due to an injury.
PLAYERS’ FORM: Amid all that has been happening, Kolkata will hope that their big guns in Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Andre Russell and even Venkatesh Iyer fire big in the remaining matches. These players have been the best for the two-time winners in the recent matches and in a season wherein Kolkata have been completely on and off, they have held the fort. On the other hand, for Hyderabad, Kane Williamson is due a big score and so is Rahul Tripathi, but the form of the likes of Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran is an advantage.
Changes in squad (if any): NO
LIKELY XIs:
KOLKATA: Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Sam Billings (wk), Andre Russell, Umesh Yadav/Shivam Mavi, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Varun Chakravarthy
HYDERABAD: Kane Williamson (c), Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Shashank Singh, J Suchith, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Marco Jansen, Umran Malik, Kartik Tyagi
FANTASY XI: Abhishek Sharma (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer, Kane Williamson, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Tim Southee, Umran Malik
Devarchit Varma is a cricket writer and journalist with an experience of more than a decade, having worked at Hindustan Times (newspaper) and CricketCountry (website). Along with covering international and domestic cricket, he has also interviewed several current and former top players such as Rohit Sharma, Steve Smith, Dale Steyn, Michael Hussey, Jacques Kallis, Brendon McCullum, Shane Watson, Lasith Malinga and many more. He has also worked in other beats as a journalist in Bollywood (Reliance BigOye) and IT (SiliconIndia) industries.
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