Why Nitish Kumar Reddy, Tim Seifert not playing today's SRH vs KKR game?

Pat Cummins won the toss and elected to bat first against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday afternoon in what is a fixture of enormous significance for both sides, though for entirely different reasons.

SRH are riding a five-match winning streak and a win today sends them to the top of the points table. KKR are in eighth place and desperately need points to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. Two teams heading in completely opposite directions, meeting at a venue where SRH have been almost unstoppable this season.

SRH vs KKR: Nitish Kumar Reddy out, Smaran gets IPL debut

The headline from the SRH camp is the enforced absence of Nitish Kumar Reddy, who misses the game with illness. In his place comes R. Smaran, a Karnataka batter making his IPL debut today in what is a dream first appearance on home soil in Hyderabad.

Cummins also brings in Harshal Patel in place of Harsh Dubey, adding seam-bowling all-round depth to the middle order. The decision to bat first was straightforward for Cummins, he pointed to the good-looking pitch, the hot conditions and SRH's established philosophy of posting massive totals and daring teams to chase them. "We've always gone past 220 barring once. We know we won't win every single game but this style is working well for us," he said.

SRH vs KKR: Finn Allen comes in for Tim Seifert who is unavailable

KKR have made two changes, Finn Allen comes in for Tim Seifert who is unavailable, while Manish Pandey plays his first game of the season replacing Ramandeep Singh.

Rahane confirmed both changes at the toss and noted that the break between games had given them time to reflect on what was working and what needed improvement. Matheesha Pathirana has again been left out despite bowling coach Tim Southee confirming he has been bowling well in the nets, a decision that will continue to raise questions about his readiness to play.

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SRH vs KKR: Where both teams stand

The contrast between these two franchises right now could not be more stark.

SRH have won five consecutive matches after losing three of their first four games, a remarkable mid-season turnaround built on the explosive batting of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma at the top, Heinrich Klaasen's devastating middle-order hitting and a bowling attack that has been transformed by Cummins's return from injury.

Abhishek Sharma has 425 runs this season, Klaasen has 414 and the return of the Australian captain has given their bowling the control and experience it was lacking in the early games. Their Purple Cap co-leader Bhuvneshwar Kumar has 17 wickets. This is a settled, confident and clinical team at the peak of their form.

KKR on the other hand have won only a handful of games from nine matches and sit eighth in the table with just four points.

They have shown recent improvement, back-to-back wins have given them something to build on, but their top order has been consistently vulnerable against new-ball movement and their bowling has lacked the penetration needed to contain quality teams throughout an innings.

Raghuvanshi and Rinku Singh have provided middle-order spark but the contributions around them have been too inconsistent to pull KKR out of the bottom half of the table.

SRH vs KKR Playing XIs

SRH: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora (wk), Aniket Verma, Smaran Ravichandran, Pat Cummins (c), Shivang Kumar, Harshal Patel, Eshan Malinga.

KKR: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi, Varun Chakravarthy.