With six points from eight games, they scrap at the bottom of the table and the challenge gets tougher with three of their next six games being away encounters. In terms of results, two of their four away fixtures have resulted in victories so far, and they hope to win the return leg too when they host Kolkata Knight Riders<\/a> at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Thursday.
IPL 2023 SCHEDULE<\/a> | <\/span>IPL 2023 POINTS TABLE<\/a>
That game at Eden saw the Sunrisers take wing on Harry Brook‘s century and handy contributions from skipper Aiden Markram and Abhishek Sharma, but it’s been mostly downhill ever since, barring the nine-run win in Delhi in their previous game. The game of musical chairs that’s on for the opening positions between Abhishek Sharma, Mayank Agarwal and Brook has not produced the desired results for the Sunrisers, who have failed to make good use of the Powerplay – their best being 65\/2 vs KKR<\/a> in Kolkata and 62\/2 vs DC in Delhi.
Shoddy starts have affected their show in the middle and that none of the SRH<\/a> batters have aggregated 200 runs this season – Rahul Tripathi leads the pack with 170 (8 matches), Agarwal (169), Brook (163), Heinrich Klaasen (153), Abhishek Sharma (139) and Markram (132) – is an indication of how they have struggled for momentum.<\/p>\n
![\"12\"](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/imgsize-23456,msid-99977216,width-600,resizemode-4\/99977216.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe same goes for their bowling. But for Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T Natarajan delivering in the final stages against Delhi, SRH looked bereft of ideas, especially when Umran Malik went for 22 runs in the only over he bowled.
Like SRH, Kolkata have blown hot and cold. They have lost five of their last six games and Rinku Singh’s heroics against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad seem so long ago. The two-time champions also have six points and will look to improve their playoff chances.<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\nSRH will be wary of the damage KKR’s batters – Jason Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, skipper Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh and Andre Russell – can do. Iyer with 296 runs from nine matches and Varun Chakravarthy (13 wickets from nine games) are at No. 9 in batting and bowling charts.
The teams also hope that rain, which has wreaked havoc in the city, does not play spoilsport.<\/p>\n