Kolkata Knight Riders return to the Eden Gardens on April 2 in what is being billed as a contest between two "high-scoring losers", with both KKR and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) failing to defend 200-plus totals in their respective Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season openers.
KKR come into this game with a vastly depleted bowling attack, despite being just one game into the new season. Their latest setback has been the news that Rs 18-crore signing, Matheesha Pathirana, is ruled out of IPL 2026 following a failed fitness test. The Sri Lankan pacer becomes the third casualty for the season after Harshit Rana and Akash Deep were both ruled out earlier.
Cameron Green will continue to play as a specialist batter due to workload management imposed by Cricket Australia, which means Ajinkya Rahane will once again have to rely on a bowling attack that failed to defend 221 against Mumbai Indians in their season opener.
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SRH will be keen to maintain their ultra-aggressive batting template despite a majority of their team firing blanks in their last game. Ishan Kishan (80 off 38 balls) and young Aniket Verma (43 off 18 balls) helped the team post 201 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru in their last outing.
Heinrich Klaasen (31) was the only other batter to post a decent score, with the next highest scorer in the team being Travis Head who returned with just 11 runs.
Their bowling attack did little to inspire confidence in the absence of injured captain Pat Cummins as Royal Challengers Bangalore chased down the total inside 16 overs.
KKR vs SRH, IPL 2026: Match Details
Date & Time: Thursday, April 2, 2026 | 7:30 PM IST
Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata
KKR vs SRH Head-to-Head (H2H)
Total Matches: 30
KKR Wins: 20 | SRH Wins: 10
At Eden Gardens: KKR lead 8-3
Likely Playing XIs
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR): Finn Allen (WK), Ajinkya Rahane (C), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Nitish Rana, Cameron Green, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Ramandeep Singh, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora and Varun Chakravarthy.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH): Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (C & WK), Heinrich Klaasen (WK), Liam Livingstone, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Harsh Dubey and Eshan Malinga.
Players To Watch
Cameron Green (KKR): Operating purely as a batter for now, Green's role becomes central to KKR's middle-order balance on a high-scoring surface.
Ishan Kishan (SRH): The stand-in captain is in strong form after a quick-fire 80 in the opener, and his powerplay battle against KKR's new-ball options could set the tone.
Varun Chakravarthy (KKR): Under pressure after a wicketless outing, he remains KKR's key weapon on a surface that could assist spin later in the game.
Eshan Malinga (SRH): Tasked with death overs, his yorker execution will be critical against KKR's finishing unit led by Rinku Singh.
How to Watch Live Telecast?
The game will be broadcasted live on the Star Sports television channels.
Where to Watch Live Streaming?
The match will be streamed live on the JioHotstar app and website.
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