Kolkata Knight Riders have lost their five previous games. (Source: IPL)Kolkata Knight Riders started this season of Indian Premier League 2019 on a high. The side led by Dinesh Karthik has lost their previous five games and now need to win every match to rekindle hopes of making it through the play-offs. Up against them will be another side, who are at the bottom half of the table and need to pull off win in every games to make it through to top four – Rajasthan Royals.
RR, under Steve Smith’s captaincy, have found a way to click in the batting department. Ajinkya Rahane smashed a ton in the previous match, while Smith, himself, has scored two back-to-back fifties. Entering after a heartbreaking home defeat against Delhi Capitals, Rajasthan would hope the batting department could do the trick once again to see them through.
KKR batting-order
One of the problems that has surfaced in the recent matches for KKR has been their batting order. The side is over-reliant on Andre Russell to hammer big shots, but the Jamiacan is sent too deep in the batting order. In the previous game, Russell came at number 6, and then only got a strike in the final three overs.
Kolkata need to fix their batting order to allow their main batsman to get more time in the middle. Russell is a one-man army and the longer he stays on, the more difficult he can make it for the opposition.
Bowling woes
For both the teams, the bowling department has not clicked. KKR always looked weak in the pace department and have tried several options – Prasidh Krishna, Lockie Ferguson, Sandeep Warrier, Harry Gurney, Yarra Prithviraj. but alas, no one has clicked so far in the tournament.
For RR, apart from Jofra Archer and Shreyas Gopal, no other bowler has been able to curtail runs. Jaydev Unadkat and Ben Stokes have been extremely expensive and have allowed the opposition such as DC to chase down massive totals with comfort. Going forward, both the teams need to fix their bowling woes, if they want to revive any hopes of making it through to the playoffs.
Teams (from):
Kolkata Knight Riders: Dinesh Karthik (capt), Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn, Shubman Gill, Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite, Sunil Narine, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Nikhil Naik, Joe Denly, Shrikant Mundhe, Nitish Rana, Sandeep Warrier, Prasidh Krishna, Lockie Ferguson, Harry Gurney, Matt Kelly, KC Cariappa and Yarra Prithviraj.
Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Shubham Ranjane, Ashton Turner, Steve Smith, Stuart Binny, Shreyas Gopal, Sudhesan Midhun, Jaydev Unadkat, Ish Sodhi, Prashant Chopra, Mahipal Lomror, Oshane Thomas, Aryaman Birla, Riyan Parag, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jofra Archer, Krishnappa Gowtham, Liam Livingstone, Varun Aaron, Jos Buttler, Shashank Singh, Manan Vohra, Rahul Tripathi.
