The Eden Gardens pitch is great for the slower bowlers so tonight’s game will be a battle of the spinners. But while Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) showcased their all-round bowling skills in their comfortable opening victory over Rajasthan Royals, KKR still have some issues to address, especially with their death over bowlers.

However KKR’s tactics with the bat have been spot on, with Sunil Narine in particular providing rapid starts to the innings. Chris Lynn’s shoulder injury has meant he isn’t able to bat as freely as he is known to be, although they have the perfect batsman in Robin Uthappa at No 3 to either get a move on or be cautious when wickets have fallen early. Russell has provided the firepower at the end of the innings, as seen by his brutal 88 not out against CSK, and SRH will be wary of that.

SRH, on the other hand, were hardly made to work for their victory with the bat after being handed a low total to chase against RR. Shikhar Dhawan, dropped early in the innings, remained unbeaten in the end to take his side to victory along with Kane Williamson, who was happy to hold up one end. The rest of their batting hasn’t been tested yet, which will be interesting when they come up against KKR. Former KKR players Yusuf Pathan, Manish Pandey and Shakib Al Hasan could hold the secret to their success at the Eden Gardens, especially their experience of having faced the likes of Narine, Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav in the nets.

In Billy Stanlake, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Sandeep Sharma, they have variety in the fast bowling while spinners Shakib and Rashid will pose quite a few problems for the KKR batsmen on a turning surface.

As far as IPL match predictions go, both teams boast of quality spin bowlers. It could well turn out to be a cat-and-mouse contest as an out-and-out attacking game from either side could result in losing wickets in heaps. Only on home advantage do KKR have their noses in front in this one, but it will come down to astute captaincy between Karthik and Williamson.