Picking a combined KKR-SRH playing 11 with impact sub ahead of IPL 2025 clash ft. Varun Chakaravarthy, Travis Head

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in match number 15 of IPL 2025 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday, April 3. This will be a rematch of last year's final at Chepauk in which KKR thumped SRH by eight wickets in a disappointingly one-sided summit clash.

With Shreyas Iyer having moved to Punjab Kings (PBKS), Kolkata are being led by Ajinkya Rahane in IPL 2025. Under him, KKR have made a mixed start to the competition. They registered a thumping eight-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals (RR), but went down to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Mumbai Indians (MI) by seven wickets and eight wickets, respectively.

Hyderabad began their IPL 2025 campaign with a clinical 44-run win over RR at home. Since then, they have tasted defeats against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Delhi Capitals (DC) by five wickets and seven wickets, respectively. SRH have continued their bold batting approach from last season, but with mixed results.

Ahead of the IPL 2025 match at the Eden Gardens on Thursday, we pick a combined KKR-SRH playing XI with impact sub options.

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Top-order: Ajinkya Rahane, Travis Head, Sunil Narine

Ajinkya Rahane, Travis Head and Sunil Narine can bat in the top order in the combined Kolkata-Hyderabad IPL 2025 playing XI. If needed, Narine could also be pushed down the order depending on team combination. He scored a duck against MI, but hammered 44 off 26 against RCB. With his canny spin bowling, it would be near impossible to leave Narine out of the combined XI.

KKR skipper Rahane slammed an excellent half-century against RCB, scoring 56 off just 31 balls. The right-handed batter has, however, perished cheaply in the franchise's last two matches. As for Head, he has been among the few positives for SRH in the batting department. He smacked 67 off 31 against RR, 47 off 28 against LSG and 22 off 12 against DC.

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Middle-order: Ishan Kishan, Aniket Verma, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Rinku Singh

Ishan Kishan made a sensational debut for the Hyderabad franchise against RR, clobbering 106* off 47 balls, with the aid of 11 fours and six sixes. The southpaw, however, has failed to build on the great start to IPL 2025. He registered a golden duck against Lucknow and was out for two against Delhi.

Amid the disappointments in the batting department, Aniket Verma has been superb for SRH in the middle-order. The 23-year-old slammed 36 off just 13 balls against LSG, clubbing as many as five sixes. He then took advantage of an early reprieve against DC and ended up smashing 74 off 41 balls. The enterprising knock featured five fours and six maximums.

Heinrich Klaasen and Rinku Singh would be the finishers in the combined KKR-SRH IPL 2025 playing XI. Klaasen has chipped in with handy contributions in all three games, registering scores of 34, 26 and 32. Rinku has had a disappointing start to his IPL 2025 campaign, but Kolkata will back him to come good. Andre Russell narrowly misses out on a spot due to the cap on foreign players.

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Bowlers: Pat Cummins (c), Varun Chakaravarthy, Harshit Rana, Mohammad Shami

Pat Cummins, Harshit Rana and Mohammed Shami would be the frontline pacers in the combined KKR-SRH playing XI, while Varun Chakaravarthy would be the main spin-bowling option along with Narine.

SRH skipper Cummins claimed 2-29 against Lucknow, but went wicketless in the other two games and proved expensive as well. Given his experience, he will be expected to lift his game. Harshit impressed with figures of 2-36 in the thumping win over RR. Kolkata will be looking forward to similar efforts from him.

SRH's lead pacer Shami has claimed two wickets in three matches. He has not been at his best, but his quality can never be doubted. KKR leg spinner Chakaravarthy will again be expected to play a key role for the franchise against SRH. The 33-year-old stood with figures of 2-17 in the win over Rajasthan.

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Impact player options: Vaibhav Arora, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Nitish Reddy, Rahul Chahar, and Zeeshan Ansari

If the KKR-SRH combined XI needs a batter, Angkrish Raghuvanshi or Nitish Reddy could be sent in as the Impact Sub to score quick runs. If the need of the hour is a bowling option, pacer Vaibhav Arora or leg spinners like Rahul Chahar and Zeeshan Ansari could be considered.