KKR Vs SRH, IPL 2024 Qualifier 1: Three Key Player Battles To Look Forward To

It is time for Qualifier 1 of the Indian Premier League 2024 and the top two teams of the league stage - Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad - will face each other on Tuesday at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad to book a ticket to the final. (Preview | Key Stats)

KKR were the standout team of the league stage and the points tally clearly showed that. Finishing with 20 points, the Shreyas Iyer-led side were three points clear off the second-placed SRH.

Sunil Narine has been one player playing two roles to perfection while the middle and lower order has put up important contributions whenever the openers have given them the opportunity.

In the bowling department, KKR are among the best. They have three of their bowlers in top 15 wicket-takers of the season.

The departure of Phil Salt and the poor form of Mitchell Starc are the only two worries for the table-toppers.

If KKR are great at bowling, SRH are the batting beasts of the tournament. Just in their last match against PBKS, SRH chased down 215 with ease. On a flat wicket, SRH openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma have threatened to kill the game within the powerplay.

The bowling has not been at its best but held up well especially in the last few games. T Natarajan has been the standout bowler with Pat Cummins providing crucial support.

Here are the three key battles to watch out for in KKR vs SRH Qualifier 1 match.

Sunil Narine vs Pat Cummins

Pat Cummins accuracy might be SRH's best bet against Sunil Narine who has been in red hot batting form throughout the tournament.

Narine, who was run out for 4 in the only encounter between the two teams early in the tournament, would be itching to give a bashing to the SRH bowlers.

The SRH skipper would have to bring himself on in case Bhuvneshwar Kumar is unable to get the Caribbean early.

An interesting battle awaits as the two giants clash. A battle that could potentially decide the game.

Heinrich Klaasen vs Harshit Rana

With 7 needed from 5 balls, SRH were cruising to a victory against KKR early in this tournament thanks to Heinrich Klaasen. However, Harshit Rana had other plans.

The young KKR pacer dismissed Klaasen and gave just two runs in his five balls to lead his team to victory in their season opener.

The two will again clash and Rana will be flying high aiming to stop Klaasen again while the South African will have revenge in his eyes.

Travis Head vs Varun Chakravarthy

Travis Head has been the most successful batter for SRH while Varun Chakravarthy stands out in the wicket-taker's list for KKR.

Head is known to be weak against spin and Shreyas Iyer will not wait a lot before bringing Chakravarthy on.

How Head fares against the mystery spinner will potentially decide if SRH can get to a blazing start or not. A mouth-watering battle is surely on the cards.