Sunrisers Hyderabad's first play-off defeat against Chennai Super Kings was their fourth loss in a row, but the 2016 champions won six on the bounce before that to top the IPL 2018 table.
Kolkata Knight Riders finished the league stage with three consecutive wins and made it four victories in a row to book their place in this final eliminator match.
Though Kolkata beat Sunrisers in their most recent match, in the final round of league fixtures, Sunrisers Hyderabad were victorious when they last met at Eden Gardens.
KKR vs SRH Win Probability
The "Chance of Winning" Widget shows winning percentage depending upon live betting odds of teams participating in the match. The winning percentage is changed immediately when odds are updated.
Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad face-off in a bid to keep their IPL 2018 hopes alive with a place in the final up for grabs. Scheduled to start on May 25, the live action begins at 19:00 local time.
SRH vs KKR: Where to watch/Live streaming
TV channels: Star Sports, Sky Sports, Willow TV, SuperSport, Geo Super, Channel 9, Fox Sports, BeIN Sport
Every team to win the toss at Eden Gardens this season has elected to field first, though the ploy did Rajasthan Royals no good in the first eliminator match. Kolkata had previously won their last two home tosses.
Read on for team previews, betting tips, latest odds and match prediction for Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Indian Premier League 2nd Qualifier.
KKR Team News & Playing 11
KKR Team News
Kolkata Knight Riders have struck upon a winning combination at the perfect time, and it was once again an unchanged team for the win against Rajasthan Royals that earned them a place in this fixture. Javon Searles has played the last four matches in place of Tom Curran, while Piyush Chawla is fit again.
Shivam Mavi - who made his IPL debut against Sunrisers Hyderabad earlier in the competition - has been one of the players overlooked but Shubman Gill, who made his debut on the same day, has earned himself a regular starting spot.
KKR Key Players
Chris Lynn was man of the match when Kolkata beat Sunrisers Hyderabad in their final league game, and the New Zealand opener - who hit 55 from 43 balls in that game - has been one of the Knight Riders' key batsmen throughout this year's tournament. He now has 443 runs from his 15 innings so far - second only to captain Dinesh Karthik in the Knight Riders' batting line-up. Karthik's half-century in the play-off win against Rajasthan Royals was his second of this year's tournament and he has 490 runs in total.
Andre Russell also impressed with the bat, and the West Indian all-rounder - whose unbeaten 49 contained five sixes and took just 25 balls - has delivered with either bat or ball throughout this year's tournament. He has 13 wickets and more than 300 runs so far. Piyush Chawla's 2-24 from four overs took him to 13 too in the last game, while Kuldeep Yadav has 15 after his economical 1/18 against Rajasthan. In the final game of the group stage, meanwhile, it was rookie Prasidh Krishna who impressed - he claimed 4/30 against Sunrisers and he now has ten wickets in his last five matches.
KKR Form in IPL 2018
Kolkata Knight Riders finished the league stage with five wins in seven matches to book their play-off place - their only defeats coming against a Mumbai Indians side who have traditionally had the better of them in this tournament. They had won just three of their first seven matches, despite starting the tournament with a four-wicket win against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
That was followed by back-to-back defeats against Chennai Super Kings - when they failed to defend 202/6 in a five-wicket loss - and Sunrisers Hyderabad, after posting just 138/8 from their 20 overs. After blitzing 200 in a 71-run win against Delhi next up, however, they then chased 160/8 to beat Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets in their next game.
A Chris Gayle-inspired Kings XI Punjab on a rain-affected match at Eden Gardens to end their min-revival, and Delhi Daredevils gained revenge by posting 219/4 in a 55-run win, but Kolkat turned the corner after that game.
Chris Lynn helped them chased 176 to win against Royal Challengers Bangalore, before a stunning six-wicket win - with 14 balls to spare - against Chennai as they chased down 178. Back-to-back losses against Mumbai Indians continued Kolkata's hoodoo in that fixture, and included a 102-run crushing defeat at Eden Gardens, but the Knight Riders responded well.
A stunning 245/6, anchored by Sunil Narine's 36-ball 75, helped them beat Kings XI Punjab by 31 runs, before they chased 143 to win their most recent meeting with Rajasthan Royals - Kuldeep Yadav claiming four wickets in an impressive bowling display. They then confirmed their play-off place by chasing 173 to win with two balls to spare against Sunrisers Hyderabad - Prasidh Krishna took 4/30 and Chris Lynn hit a 43-ball 55. Their play-off win against Rajasthan Royals, setting 169/7 thanks to some useful late-order runs from Karthik and Russell before restricting the Royals to 144/4, was their fourth consecutive win.
KKR Predicted Playing 11
Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Khartik, Andre Russell, Shubman Gill, Piyush Chawla, Javon Searles, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna
KKR vs SRH Match Prediction
SRH Team News & Playing 11
SRH Team News
While Sunrisers Hyderabad will be desperate to end their losing streak, the form of Carlos Braithwaite in the last two games is likely to earn the West Indian another game as one of the four overseas selections. Braithwaite replaced England opener Alex Hales for the final league game and took two wickets, while he was top scorer with 43 not out in the defeat to Chennai Super Kings in the first play-off.
With Afghanistan's teenage sensation Rashid Khan, captain and star batsman Kane Williamson and Bangladeshi icon Shakib-al-Hasan occupying the other three overseas spots, it seems unlikely Hales will find a way back in despite the batsmen falling short last time out. Elsewhere, Shreevats Goswami is likely to continue behind the stumps with Wriddhiman Saha having suffered a shoulder injury. In Hales' absence, he has opened with Shikhar Dhawan.
SRH Key Players
Captain Kane Williamson's knock of 24 in the qualifier was enough to take him above Rishabh Pant in the IPL 2018 run-scoring charts. Williamson has hit eight fifties and is now likely to secure the orange cap after hitting 685 runs from 15 innings at an average of 57.08. Williamson has excelled batting at three, after opener Shikhar Dhawan has set the tone. Dhawan has 437 runs from 14 innings and will be desperate to bounce back from the disappointment of his first-ball duck in the qualifier.
With the ball, Siddarth Kaul and Rashid Khan are now third and fourth in the wicket-taking list after both picked up two wickets in the defeat to Chennai. Kaul's medium pace has earned him 19 wickets while Khan has 18 - the Afghan teenager also boasting a brilliant economy of 6.91. His four overs cost just 11 runs in the qualifier and were the reason Sunrisers took Chennai to the final over despite scoring just 139/7.
SRH Form in IPL 2018
Sunrisers Hyderabad go into this game on the back of four consecutive defeats - a far cry from the six wins in a row which preceded them and earned them top spot in the group. Prior to that, they had won their first three games - including their last match at Eden Gardens against Kolkata Knight Riders - before back-to-back defeats.
Economical bowling was key in their first three matches, as they chased down targets of 126, 148 and 139 to start the season in style. Shikhar Dhawan scored 77 and 45 to top score in home wins against Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians before Kane Williamson's 50 in the win at Eden Gardens against Kolkata. The following two games saw them fail to chase down 193 against Kings XI Punjab and then fall four runs short of Chennai Super Kings' 182/3 in the first meeting between these two teams this year.
They hit back with more impressive bowling displays, however, defending 118 to beat Mumbai Indians by 31 runs in their most recent game at the Wankhede Stadium - Siddarth Kaul claiming 3/23 from four overs, Rashid Khan taking 2/11 and Sandeep Sharma bowling 14 dot balls out of 18 as he finished with three overs and figures of 1-9. They followed that up by defending 132/6 to beat Kings XI Punjab by 13 runs - Khan again impressing with 3/19 from his four overs.
The batsmen hit back thereafter, as Kane Williamson, Alex Hales and Shikhar Dhawan all weighed in with big scores in victories against Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Daredevils, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi again - the latter seeing Dhawan's 92* from 50 balls earn him the man of the match award, despite Rishabh Pant hitting an unbeaten 128 for the hosts.
Dhawan and Williamson have continued to impress with the bat even as Sunrisers' winning streak ended, meanwhile - Dhawan hit 78 in an eight-wicket defeat to Chennai Super Kings, Williamson scored a 42-ball 81 as Sunrisers fell 14 runs short of Royal Challengers Bangalore's target and then Dhawan hit a 50 in the final group game but the team could not defend 172/9 against Kolkata.
Last time out, however, Sunrisers posted just 139/7 against Chennai Super Kings after losing Shikhar Dhawan to the first ball of the game - and the Super Kings chased it down with two wickets and five balls remaining despite Rashid Khan recording figures of 2/11 for the second time.
SRH Predicted Playing 11
Shikhar Dhawan, Shreevats Goswami, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Shakib-al-Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Carlos Braithwaite, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul
KKR vs SRH Team Form in Last Five Matches
KKR : WWWWL
SRH : LLLLW
KKR vs SRH Head to Head
SRH vs KKR Head to Head
Both sides have won one apiece in head-to-head fixtures this season. It was Sunrisers Hyderabad who won when they last met at Eden Gardens but it was Kolkata Knight Riders who claimed victory most recenty - in the final round of league fixtures. It was the Knight Riders' ninth win in 14 previous matches against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
In play-off matches, meanwhile, they faced each other in each of the last two years at this stage with both teams winning once. In their most recent fixture, Prasidh Krishna took 4/30 and Chris Lynn led the chase with a half-century as Kolkata chased down 172/9 to win with two balls to spare by five wickets.
SRH vs KKR Betting Odds
Given each team's recent form, it is little surprise to see Kolkata Knight Riders installed as favourites for this but Sunrisers Hyderabad showed what they can do with their stunning form during the league stage. While the Knight Riders are 1.72 to win with Bet365, Sunrisers are 2.10 and could be good value.
Current orange cap leader Kane Williamson is 3.25 to be Sunrisers Hyderabad's top scorer, meanwhile. The New Zealander will look to add a ninth half-century of this year's tournament and he is also 3.25 to reach 50. He is the exact sort of big-game player the Sunrisers will need to get back to winning ways.
Chris Lynn was Kolkata's top scorer when they beat Sunrisers in the final group game and is 3.50 to top score for the Knight Riders again this time out. Dinesh Karthik, the Knight Riders' top scorer so far and who hit a half-century last time out, is 5.50.
Hyderabad vs Kolkata Qualifier 2 Prediction
Sunrisers Hyderabad will hope in-form Kane Williamson can lead them to the IPL final. No batsman has scored more than the New Zealander this year, and if he and his team-mates recapture the form they showed in the league stage, they can earn a shot at the IPL 2018 title.
Final Verdict: Back Sunrisers Hyderabad to beat Kolkata Knight Riders at 2.10 with Bet365.
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May 25, 2018
19:00 IST / 13:30 GMT
Eden Gardens - Kolkata, India
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