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Markram is confident of their bowlers executing their plans against the aggressive KKR batters, who have posted consecutive 200-plus totals in their last two games. KKR are riding high on the power-hitting prowess of Rinku Singh and Shardul Thakur at the death overs, which enabled them to register splendid wins against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Titans.
“If you look at their squad make-up as a whole, they are going to play aggressively and an attacking brand of cricket. On each one’s given day, they can certainly be a massive threat for us,” Markram told reporters on the eve of their match.
“It’s about sticking to our strengths out in the middle, that will give us the best chance to execute whatever plans we have. Guys have been doing very well for KKR, they (Shardul and Rinku) have been finishing well.
“But we are going to have some good plans in place, we have some good experience in our camp, some really good death bowlers as well, we are confident in them. Hopefully we can execute nicely, on the night (tomorrow).”
SRH have Indian veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar to lead the pace attack, which is bolstered by the addition of Markram’s fellow South African Marco Jansen, and they will also have the fiery Umran Malik in a three-pronged pace attack.
Having released Rashid Khan, SRH have the spin duo of Washington Sundar and Mayank Markande.
Starting the season with back-to-back losses, SRH got their campaign back on track when they rode on an unbeaten 74 from Rahul Tripathi to defeat Punjab Kings by eight wickets.
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A former KKR player, Tripathi will look to give his valuable inputs to the team.
“It’s always nice having someone in your team who has been a part of the team who you are going to play against. Definitely, we will use Rahul’s experience, knowledge as best as we can.
“It’s great to see a player like Rahul in form, he’s really entertaining to watch and the way he goes about his work. It’s great to have him in that frame of mind at the moment,” Markram said.
The South African said the mood in the squad is upbeat and they would look to give KKR a strong fight.
“If you look at the camp at the moment, everyone is really in a good mood, very positive, upbeat and full of energy.
“I suppose that’s the result of getting the first win of the competition… Everyone can take confidence from the previous game. We still have to respect and appreciate that it’s a new game, we have to start from scratch tomorrow. But if we can take that confidence and a bit of momentum, it can really help us tomorrow.”
Their big buys — Harry Brook and Heinrich Klaasen — are yet to fire, while Indian big gun Mayank Agarwal also has not made any significant contribution.
“We are not too worried about that. Your bigger players understand and appreciate that they would like to contribute and start winning games for the team. Our team might not completely rely on one-two players. We saw that in the previous game.
“But certainly, it’s warming from my side to see everyone contributing in little phases of the game. In T20 cricket, a match can be lost in little phases. We are going to rely definitely on our squads to win us some games on the bounce.”
(With inputs from PTI)
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