Hyderabad: The first match of ‘Super Sunday’ of IPL (IPL 2026) is a tight fight today. Two inform teams face off, Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH vs KKR). On the one hand, Sunrisers have joined the play-off race by winning five matches. On the other hand, for the first time in their history, the Knights have won their last two matches after going winless in the first six matches of an IPL season. In such a situation, a tight fight is likely on Sunday.

When the two teams faced each other this season, Sunrisers won by a big margin. But a lot has changed since then. KKR’s middle order is slowly getting back into rhythm. Two spin arms Varun Chakraborty and Sunil Narine have also regained rhythm. However, the most talked about ahead of Sunday’s match is Mathisha Pathirana. He joined the KKR camp a couple of weeks ago after recovering from an injury. The Sri Lankan cricketer is bowling very well in the nets regularly.

But even though there was a possibility of making his debut in the last match, it didn’t happen. Knights bowling coach Tim Southee did not say anything before the match whether Pathirana will play against Sunrisers. Pathirana’s game will be decided on the day of the match, he said. Playing Pathirana will undoubtedly add to the strength of KKR’s bowling attack. And the fate of the match could largely be determined by the outcome of KKR’s bowling versus Sunrisers’ batting battle.

Against Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Arora, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakraborty’s bowling in the opening and Pathirana playing in the middle overs and towards the end, the duel of Heinrich Klaasen, who has been performing consistently this season, can be worth watching. As the match will be held in the afternoon, the dew should not have much effect. So the spinners of both teams can play an important role. And KKR is ahead in the battle of these spinners. But the 22-yard fight is never written in the book.

Needless to say, this match between two teams desperate to continue their winning streak has multiple superstars who can single-handedly change the fate of the match. Even though KKR have the upper hand (20 out of 31 matches) in the head-to-head, Sunrisers may come out on top with a bit of confidence in the match.