Comeback man David Warner would be the cynosure of all eyes when last year's finalist SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH)open their campaign against two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the second match of the 12th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) at Kolkata on Sunday.
Under Warner's captaincy, SunRisers won their maiden IPL title in 2016 and in 2017, he was the leading run-getter for his team.
But the Australian opener missed the previous edition of the cash-rich T20 league because of last year's infamous ball-tampering episode in Cape Town. And he will be the most scrutinised player for the Hyderabad-based franchise this season as he makes a return after serving a two-year ban.
Even though his international ban ends on March 28, the left-handed opener is eligible to play in the franchise league and would be hoping to get into his zone to stake a claim in Australia's World Cup squad.
Warner went under the knife for an elbow injury in January during the Bangladesh Premier League but made a successful comeback for his Sydney club Randy Petes with a 77-ball century in a one-day game earlier this month.
Kane Williamson, who led them to runners-up finish in the Aussie's absence last season, will continue to captain Sunrisers, a team that is known for its depth and variation in bowling.
While Bhuvneshwar Kumar will lead Sunrisers pace department, Afghanistan's Rashid Khan will be in charge of the spin attack.
Sunrisers have traded in Vijay Shankar, Shahbaz Nadeem and Abhishek Sharma for Shikhar Dhawan, but it remains to be seen how they overcome the Indian opener's departure.
In the KKR camp, skipper Dinesh Karthik will look to make the most out of the IPL opportunity to get the Indian selectors' attention.
Taking charge of the team after Gautam Gambhir's exit, Karthik led KKR to the third-place finish following their loss to SRH in the second eliminator last year.
KKR have roped in Carlos Brathwaite to go alongside other two Windies match-winners – Andre Russell and Sunil Narine – as they would look to reinforce their batting firepower with Aussie Chris Lynn.
Squads:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Dinesh Karthik (c), Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn, Shubman Gill, Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite, Sunil Narine, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Nikhil Naik, Joe Denly, Shrikant Mundhe, Nitish Rana, Sandeep Warrier, Prasidh Krishna, Lockie Ferguson, Harry Gurney, KC Cariappa and Yarra Prithviraj.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson (c), Manish Pandey, Martin Guptill, Ricky Bhui, David Warner, Deepak Hooda, Mohammad Nabi, Yusuf Pathan, Shakib Al Hasan, Abhishek Sharma, Vijay Shankar, Shreevats Goswami, Jonny Bairstow, Wriddhiman Saha, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, Basil Thampi, Billy Stanlake, T Natarajan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem.
Match starts at 4 PM IST.
