Shreyas Iyer is back as KKR captain after missing the 2023 season. There were some concerns over his fitness recently as he did not field on the last two days of the Ranji Trophy final because of back spasms. But earlier this week, he featured in KKR’s intra-squad practice match and is fit to play on Saturday. Dushmantha Chameera, though, is likely to be unavailable for the first few games after suffering a quadriceps injury during the first ODI against Afghanistan.
Wanindu Hasaranga is unavailable at least for the first game. His status is a little unclear, since he is in Sri Lanka’s Test squad in Bangladesh but can’t really play those games as he is serving an ICC suspension. In a way, his absence makes Cummins’ task of picking four overseas players easier.
In December, Pat Cummins became the most expensive player at an IPL auction when SRH bought him for INR 20.5 crore (US$2.47 million approx.). But the record did not survive for even two hours as KKR broke the bank for Mitchell Starc, signing him for INR 24.75 crore (US$2.98 million approx.).
On the first weekend of IPL 2024, those two will come face-to-face in Kolkata.
Do new-look SRH have the personnel to turn fortunes around?
Shreyas Iyer’s fitness a concern for spin-heavy KKR
The constant and universal appeal of Mitchell Starc
Cummins had a dream 2023, where he led Australia to the World Test Championship and the ODI World Cup titles. But this is his first captaincy stint in T20 cricket, and leading an IPL team is vastly different from leading a national side. And while Cummins the bowler is already on the path to greatness in Test cricket, the same cannot be said about him in T20s.
SRH have got a new coach as well: Daniel Vettori. That makes it the fourth consecutive season where they have a new captain and a new coach.
Probable Playing 11:
Mayank Agarwal, Travis Head, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Washington Sundar, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Umran Malik, Mayank Markande
Pitch Report:
The Eden Gardens pitch is known for its support for both batters and bowlers. Initially, there will be seam and swing available for the bowlers, but as the game progresses, the pitch is expected to support the batters more, while spinners are also likely to get some turn. However, since it’s the first match of the season, there may not be much support for the spinners.