Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will eye victory to boost their playoff hopes when they take on bottom-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 clash at the Dubai International Stadium in Dubai on Sunday. The Eoin Morgan-led side has 10 points from 12 games and will look to clinch two victories from the two remaining games in order to make the playoffs. In their last game against Punjab Kings, KKR lost by five wickets despite another impressive performance from all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer.
KKR had started well with the bat against Punjab, buoyed by Iyer's 67, but failed to make it count as the middle-order struggled pace up the innings.
In response, KL Rahul's 67 helped Punjab seal victory by five wickets. Varun Chakravarthy chipped in with figures of 2/24 for KKR and will hope to put in another fine performance on Sunday.
For SRH, playoff hopes have long been over. The Kane Williamson-led side has won just two of its 11 matches this season, losing the other nine.
In their last match, SRH slipped to a six-wicket defeat at the hands of table-toppers Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
SRH struggled with the bat and could only manage 134/7 batting first. In response, CSK chased down the target with six wickets to spare despite a disciplined showing by SRH bowlers.
The aim for SRH at this stage would be to try and win all their three remaining games in order to avoid the wooden spoon.
However, recent performances wouldn't inspire a lot of hope among SRH fans and the team will have to make significant improvements if it is to finish the campaign on a positive note.