Coach Tom Moody insists the mood in the Sunrisers Hyderabad camp is upbeat despite their opening defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Hyderabad, who lost to Bangalore by 45 runs, will be hosting Kolkata Knight Riders in their first home game at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium on Saturday.
The hosts are also battling injury issues to leading players, top order batsman Kane Williamson and left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra. Williamson is ruled out for a week as he is down with a hamstring strain while Nehra is suffering from a groin injury and will miss at least two games.
Moody, however, believes he has able replacements to step up but he expects a “tough contest” against the former champions Kolkata.
“Even though, we lost the first game, we are going to this with lots of confidence. (There are) lots of things we can take away from that game in Bangalore. It gave us lot of confidence with the bat and ball,” Moody said on Friday.
“KKR are a strong team. They have shown it over time. So, it is going to be a tough contest. I think every side in the competition is pretty well balanced. There is no so-called easy game. We certainly have to play our best cricket to score winning points tomorrow.
“With Nehra injured, a bowler of that quality, it is going to have an impact on any side. We are conscious to make sure we have strong support behind our bowling. With (Barinder) Sran and (Abhimanyu) Mithun we got capable and talented backup pace bowlers,” added the former Aussie all-rounder.
Meanwhile, Kolkata star off-spinner Sunil Narine is expected to play his first competitive match since November 2015.