Their confidence severely dented after two comprehensive defeats on the trot, last edition’s runner-up side Kolkata Knight Riders would seek to get their inconsistent campaign back on track when they face Rajasthan Royals in an IPL 2022 match at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Monday (April 18). KKR were beaten by Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad by 44 runs and seven wickets respectively in their last two matches. They had earlier lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore.
With three wins and three losses, KKR are at the mid-table while the Royals have won three matches and lost two games till now. KKR had an impressive start to the league with three wins from four matches but the back-to-back losses had taken them down below the top-4 and they would look to regain that slot.
But to do that they will have to pull themselves up in both batting and bowling. None of the batters, except for Andre Russell, has been consistent so far while the likes of spinner Varun Chakravarthy and pacer Pat Cummins have dished out average performances. Russell is the current top-scorer for KKR with 179 runs from six matches and has also contributed with five wickets with the ball.
Captain Shreyas lyer has not been in the best of form with just one half-century in his name for a total of 151 runs in six matches, Nitesh Rana and Venkatesh Iyer have been lacking in consistency, while Sam Billings is struggling to get runs.
The Royals, on the other hand, will start as favourites in Monday’s match with the tournament’s highest run-getter and wicket-taker in their ranks in Jos Buttler and Yuzvendra Chahal. Chahal has been in top form with 12 wickets from five matches, also with a fine economy of 6.80 and he would fancy to add more scalps to his name, especially against a struggling KKR batting unit.
Match Details
Venue: Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai
Date & Time: April 18th at 7:30 PM IST
Live Streaming: Star Sports Network, Star Gold and Disney+Hotstar
Wicketkeeper: Jos Buttler
Batters: Shreyas Iyer, Shimron Hetmyer, Nitish Rana
All-rounders: Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Riyan Parag
Bowlers: Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult, Kuldeep Sen
Captain: Jos Buttler
Vice-Captain: Andre Russell
Rajasthan Royals: Devdutt Padikkal, Jos Buttler, Rassie van der Dussen, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shimron Hetmyer, Trent Boult/James Neesham, Riyan Parag, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Sen, Yuzvendra Chahal
Kolkata Knight Riders: Venkatesh Iyer, Aaron Finch, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer (c), Sheldon Jackson (wk), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Aman Hakim Khan, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy
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