KKRvsRR: Under the leadership of Nitish Rana, Kolkata will go to the ground to beat Rajasthan Royals
Kolkata. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), who have given wings to their hopes of reaching the playoffs with a good performance in the last few matches, registered a win against the struggling Rajasthan Royals here on Thursday and entered the top four in the points table of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Will land on the field with the aim of making. Two-time champions KKR performed brilliantly after reaching a do-or-die situation and kept their hopes of reaching the playoffs alive by winning the last two matches which went down to the last ball against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings.
The victory in both these matches not only boosted KKR’s morale but also moved it from eighth to sixth position in the points table. Right now four teams including KKR and Rajasthan Royals have the same 10 points. Even though the Royals team is ahead on the basis of net run rate, but if KKR wins this match, then the equations will also change and the Nitish Rana-led team will make it to the top four team. Where KKR’s team is full of confidence after winning the last two matches, the last season’s runner-up Rajasthan Royals are battered by defeat in three consecutive matches. The Rajasthan Royals team failed to defend a score of more than 200 runs due to their wrong strategy and now they have reached a do or die situation.
KKR’s team will be most dependent on Varun Chakraborty in bowling, who played a key role in both their previous victories. While Chakraborty successfully defended nine runs in the final over against Sunrisers, it was his bowling that made the difference against Punjab. At a time when veteran bowler Sunil Narine is struggling to get wickets, Chakraborty has proved to be KKR’s trump card. He has taken 17 wickets so far this season. His four overs will be crucial against Rajasthan Royals as well. KKR’s team management decided not to bowl to Shardul Thakur, who was included in the Indian team for the World Test Championship, in the match against Punjab, but this made their fast bowling department look very weak.
In this match, Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana took 36 runs in the last two overs. It remains to be seen whether KKR uses Shardul in the next match. Rajasthan Royals have batsmen in excellent form like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler and Sanju Samsung and in such a situation KKR bowlers will have to be at their best. While the fast bowling department is a matter of concern for KKR, the Royals will also have to hit the ground running with the right strategy in this crucial match. In the match against Sunrisers, the decision to give Kuldeep Yadav the 19th over instead of Oved McCoy proved wrong as the young pacer conceded 24 runs in that over.
Teams are as follows:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Nitish Rana (Captain), Rahmanullah Gurbaj, Jason Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakraborty, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, N Jagadeesan, Vaibhav Arora , Suyash Sharma, David Wiese, Kulwant Khejroliya, Mandeep Singh, Arya Desai and Johnson Charles.
Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Joe Root, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult, Obed McCoy, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Sen, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal , KC Cariappa, Jason Holder, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathour, Adam Zampa, KM Asif, Murugan Ashwin, Akash Vashisht and Abdul PA. Match Start: 7.30 PM.
