Cummins' SRH host a resurgent KKR at Uppal with both sides on different curves
Sunrisers Hyderabad host Kolkata Knight Riders at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Sunday afternoon in match 45 of IPL 2026, the first of the day's doubleheader, with two sides arriving on different trajectories. Pat Cummins's SRH come in third on the table after five straight wins; Ajinkya Rahane's KKR sit eighth but have rediscovered something with back-to-back wins over Rajasthan Royals and a Super Over over Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow.
SRH have won six of nine to push themselves into the playoff conversation. The last of those wins came at the Wankhede on 29 April, when Travis Head and Klaasen chased down 244 with eight balls to spare, and the side that started 1-3 has not lost since. Cummins has bowled with the calm of a captain who has stopped reading his own press, and the batting top order is now built around two of the tournament's three highest run-scorers in Abhishek and Klaasen.
KKR arrive on the back of two real wins
KKR came in trying to recover from a 2025 title defence that fizzled in the league stage, and they started this campaign badly too. The change has come down the order. Rinku Singh's unbeaten 83 off 51 in the Super Over win over LSG on 26 April, with four sixes in succession off Digvesh Rathi, was the clearest sign that the lower middle was starting to fire. Sunil Narine's first-ball wicket of Nicholas Pooran in the Super Over and a sharp boundary catch from Rovman Powell sealed it. Win or lose at Uppal, Rahane's side are no longer the team waiting for a result.
The captain himself has not contributed runs in line with his role and that remains a worry. KKR's path through the next four matches has more weight on Rinku, Cameron Green and Venkatesh Iyer than Rahane will admit, and a powerplay against Cummins is not the easiest place to fix a top-order trough.
A Hyderabad pitch that rewards bat over bowl
The first-innings average across the four IPL 2026 matches at Uppal has been around 202, and three of those four have been won by the team batting first. The surface is flat, the outfield quick, and dew has been a factor under lights in the second innings, which complicates the toss. Spinners have struggled here for grip, leaving Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy to rely on pace variations rather than turn. Cummins and Eshan Malinga at the new ball is the phase KKR's batters need to survive without losing a top three; if they get there with wickets in hand, the chase is on.
Stat shelf and stakes
The all-time head-to-head sits 20-11 in KKR's favour from 31 meetings, but Hyderabad as a venue has been a different story for SRH this season. A win for SRH locks them deeper into the top four; a KKR win at Uppal would be the kind of away result that turns rebuilding into a real run at the playoffs from eighth. Both sides will treat this as a knockout in everything but name. Toss at 3:00pm IST, first ball at 3:30pm.
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