Kolkata Knight Riders, who made a terrific start to the tournament before losing five games on a trot, will be in search of a win when they face off against the Rajasthan Royals. The Royals are currently third in the points table and are one of the frontrunners to make it to the playoffs. A win against Kolkata will confirm their progress into the next stage of the tournament.
KKR, on the other hand, are still searching for a playing XI they can field consistently. There have been a few poor calls from the management which have led to poor team selection. Some of Kolkata’s big names like Venkatesh Iyer and Varun Chakravarthy have also underperformed. All eyes will be on captain Shreyas Iyer, who is the team’s highest run-scorer so far. Andre Russell is the second-highest run-scorer and will be looking to bounce back from the golden duck he bagged in his previous outing. With the ball, Umesh Yadav will once again be Kolkata’s best bet.
From among the Royals, Jos Buttler will be the one to watch out for. He scored a century when KKR and RR met earlier in the tournament and is also currently the Orange Cap holder. The Purple Cap also belongs to a Royal – Yuzvendra Chahal, who had taken a hat-trick against Kolkata in the earlier fixture.
Predicted XI
Rajasthan Royals - Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (c, wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Daryl Mitchell, Riyan Parag, R Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Sen
Kolkata Knight Riders - Aaron Finch, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Sunil Narine, B Indrajith (wk), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana
Image credit: IPL
