The 31st match of the tournament between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Rajasthan Royals (RR). The match between them will start at 7:30 P.M. (IST).
Teams Analysis:
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR):
They are placed at 2nd in the points table with 8 points in 5 matches. They won 4 out of 5. The whole team is contributing well till now, either it is batting or it is bowling everyone is taking up the responsibility well. They showed their full dominance whenever they came to play. This depicts in their last match when Phil Salt’s ravishing hard hitting blew the full LSG’s team apart.
After scoring his career best in the IPL in the last match, Phil Salt is now the leading run scorer for Knight Riders in this season. He has scored 191 runs till now with 2 half-centuries in his credit. In the last match he scored unbeaten 89 runs and took his team to a huge victory. His first 50 came in the first which was against SRH and after that he was unable to get his rhythm and got out early but in the last match he found that again and played a superb knock.
Sunil Narine is contributing to the team in both the departments. He is currently the 2nd most leading run scorer in the team in this season with 167 runs under his name whereas he grabbed 5 wickets with a brilliant economy of 6.75. In a batting paradise of Eden’s pitch, he is mostly seen bowling economic spells. Skipper Shreyas Iyer is going well till now as he scored 129 runs but a little concern is his strike rate which is 120.56. He is yet to score a half-century and his highest in this season till now is 39 runs which was against RCB.
Vankatesh Iyer and Rinku Singh haven’t got much chance to flourish their skills. Except Venkatesh who scored a brilliant 50 against RCB but after that he was unable to score much with the bat. Angkrish Raghuvanshi played a destructive knock against DC where he got 54 runs with the bat and in the next two matches he got 24 & 7 runs.
Andre Russell is a demon in the death overs and can easily accelerate the run-rate of the team. This feature was seen against SRH in the first match where he scored unbeaten 64 runs in 25 balls, where he hit 3 fours and 7 sixes. Not only this he has given his team 6 important wickets in this season till now but has a high economy which is 9.86.
Mitchell Starc is finally looking in his rhythm after grabbing 3 wickets for the team in the last match by giving away only 28 runs in his 4 overs. Before this he was beaten heavily and had an economy of more than 10. Vaibhav Arora is team’s most wicket taker in this season with 6 wickets under his pocket till now. His economy is just above 8. But his crucial wickets mostly came in the powerplay where he mostly put opposition on the back foot.
Probable playing 11 for the match:
Shreyas Iyer ©, Phil Salt (wk), Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora.
(Impact Player: Varun Chakravarthy)
Rajasthan Royals (RR):
The current table topper in the points table has already secured 10 points in 6 matches with 5 wins and just a single loss. This team is dominating all the way and makes it difficult for the other teams. Their players are contributing well in both the departments. In their last match, Shimron Hetmyer just clinched the victory from PBKS mouth with his power hitting in the death overs.
Jos Butler missed the last match due to injury but he might make his comeback in the match against KKR. After struggling in the starting matches he got a brilliant century against RCB which helped him to motivate for the remaining matches. He has till now 143 runs in this season. The other opener Yashasvi Jaiswal is still struggling with his run scoring ability as he just managed 102 runs in 6 matches. His highest came in the last match against PBKS where he scored 39 runs but couldn’t knock too much longer.
Skipper Sanju Samson is taking the responsibility well. He is consistently providing runs for the team and is 3rd in the list of orange cap. He has till now scored 264 runs with a strike rate of 155.29 and hit 3 half-centuries till now. His best in this season was against LSG where he scored 82 runs. Riyan Parag is looking great in this season as he is currently in the 2nd spot of orange cap list. He scored 284 runs with a strike rate of 155.19. He also hit 3 half-centuries and the promotion in his batting order helped a lot to score the runs.
Shimron Hetmyer didn’t get much chance to bat but his influential roleplay against Punjab in the last match where it was looking an easy win PBKS but his heroics in the death overs took the match away from them. He scored unbeaten 27 runs in 10 balls which was a major difference in the match. Dhruv Jurel hasn’t been able to perform much better with the bat till now.
Yuzvendra Chahal is leading in the purple cap list with 11 wickets secured till now. His economy tends towards the better side which is 7.41 and might be dangerous in Eden Garden’s pitch. Pacers Trent Boult and Nandre Burger also made a huge impact for the team after providing valuable wickets especially in the powerplay. They both had taken 6 wickets till now.
Avesh Khan and Kuldeep Sen are also assisting them with their pace pretty much. Avesh had taken 5 while Kuldeep has got 4 wickets in their name.
Probably playing 11 for the Match:
Sanju Samson (c/wk), Jos Butler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Nandre Burger, Yuzvendra Chahal.
(Impact Player: Avesh Khan)
Head to Head (KKR vs RR):
They played 28 matches against each other. One match was called off.
| KKR | RR | |
| won | 14 | 13 |
| Highest score | 210 | 217 |
| Lowest score | 125 | 81 |
Pitch Report:
This match will be played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. The pitch is highly favourable for the batters and the ball came easily into the bat. But spinners might also get little help from the pitch as compared to that of pacers. Chasing will be a good option on this ground.
Weather Report:
The weather will be a hit and humid day as the temperature will touch 39 degree celsius in the daytime while it will drop down to 28 degree celsius at night. Humidity will be close to 50%.
Best 11 for the Match:
Sanju Samson, Phil Salt, Shreyas Iyer, Shimron Hetmyer, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Riyan Parag, Mitchell Starc, Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult, Vaibhav Arora.