IPL 2021: 3 player battles to watch out for as KKR take on SRH

It is a super Sunday in the offing as the industrious SRH take on a flamboyant KKR in their first IPL 2021 encounter on a slow Chennai track. Both teams have flair and promise and predicting a winner will be difficult in this evenly contested matchup.

With both sides filled with bonafide superstars, player battles will become a crucial talking point as they head into the game on Sunday (April 11) looking to make a winning start to their IPL 2021 campaign.

It pretty much boils down to KKR's spin attack that will look to thwart the SRH batsmen, who are generally good players of spin. The likes of David Warner, Manish Pandey and Kane Williamson generally put their dancing shoes on to comfortably negate the spin threat, but on a slow-paced pitch, things could get tricky.

We take a look at some of the key player battles to watch out for when the two teams meet on Sunday.

#1 Shubman Gill vs Bhuvaneshwar Kumar - When swing meets a solid blade

Shubman Gill will look to negate the swing threat and get his IPL 2021 off to a great start

Shubman Gill has been one of KKR's most prolific batsmen building up to this IPL and he will be up against Bhuvaneshwar Kumar who can swing the ball with great control.

It will be experience vs flamboyance as Gill will look to get KKR off to a breezy start in the powerplay and for that he will have to negate Kumar's early spell.

Bhuvi will be keen to make a mark in the IPL 2021 after a thigh injury sidelined him from the previous edition. He ended the season playing just four games and picked up three wickets before sitting out to make way for left-arm fast bowler Prithvi Raj Yarra.

#2 David Warner vs Varun Chakravarthy will be a mystery battle in IPL 2021

Warner's hard-hitting ability has seen SRH stamp authority early on in games when they bat and KKR will look at using their breakout spinner, Varun Chakravarthy, to send the Aussie back to the dugout.

BLINDER! 🤯🎥 @chakaravarthy29 did THIS in our final practice game before the season...#KKRHaiTaiyaar #IPL2021 pic.twitter.com/ll7uHs6jxd

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) April 10, 2021

Fans will remember that caught & bowled dismissal from last season that could rightly be dubbed as a "stunner." Warner is coming into the IPL at 2021 with 5254 runs to his name and a whopping strike rate of 141.54 with an average of 42.71 to boot.

Chakravarthy, after having his share of fitness issues, will be a sure starter in the team's season opener. He ended the last IPL with 17 wickets from 13 matches at an economy of 6.84 runs per over.

#3 Andre Russell vs Rashid Khan

Rashid Khan will be SRH's X-factor in IPL 2021

Russell vs Rashid will be one of the lip-smacking contests that will make or break the game for either team. Russell wasn't his bazooka self in 2020 and will be keen to make amends, but he will be up against one of the best spinners in the world in recent times.

Rashid's guile will be prove to be the ultimate test for Russell as Warner usually reserves an over at the death for the spinner and that would mean trying to clear the ropes against a man who has scalped 75 wickets in his 62 matches in the IPL so far.