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One of the most glamorous franchises in IPL history, the Shahrukh Khan-owned Kolkata Knight Riders, will commence their IPL 2019 season with a stiff opening match against the Orange Army, Sunrisers Hyderabad, at the Eden Gardens.
Both the teams finished in the top 4 of the points table last year. They clashed thrice in IPL 2018 and the Orange Army prevailed twice over the Knights, including once in the playoffs.
The Kolkata Knight Riders received a major setback when their three 3 pacers - Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, and Anrich Nortje were ruled out of the season because of injuries. However, Kolkata Knight Riders are still a very strong side on paper and here are the reasons why Kolkata will have a winning start to IPL 2019.
Destructive opening pair
Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine are one of the most destructive opening pairs in IPL history and the two swash-buckling batsmen will try their best to give the home team a blistering start in the powerplay.
They had a mild season in 2018 as both could not fire at the same time but this year, the Australian-Caribbean duo will love to demolish the opposition with their hard-hitting strokes. Though SRH has a strong bowling attack, they will face difficulty in controlling these two openers, especially in the first six overs of the innings.
Experienced Indian core
Dinesh Karthik and Robin Uthappa have an immense amount of experience and the duo will play a crucial role in changing the game in KKR's favor when they take the field against SRH tomorrow. Also, they will have the support of Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill, two of the most talented youngsters in Indian cricket at the moment. Rana has proven himself as a big-hitter on multiple occasions while Gill even received his international cap this year which shows the talent he has.
Match-winning all-rounders
Kolkata Knight Riders already had Sunil Narine and Andre Russell in their team and this year they have roped in Carlos Braithwaite as well. The presence of these three match-winners will influence KKR's winning chances a lot and thus, the Knight Riders will walk in as favorites in their clash against the Orange Army tomorrow.
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