Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will host Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Eden Gardens in an Indian Premier League (IPL) fixture on Thursday.
The two teams are in contrasting forms heading into this fixture. While KKR have won their last two games, with Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell and Rinku Singh playing lead roles, the Royals have lost five of their last six.
Both teams are locked at 10 points in 11 matches and a win here will be crucial to keep their playoff hopes alive. RR are fifth on the IPL leaderboard, while KKR are placed sixth.
Here is a comprehensive guide on the key batsmen, key bowlers, predicted lineups and key battles ahead of KKR versus RR.
Predicted lineups for KKR vs RR
KKR: Jason Roy, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (C), Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma, Varun Chakaravarthy
RR: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (C & WK), Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Jason Holder, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sandeep Sharma, Adam Zampa
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Best Batters from KKR vs RR
Yashasvi Jaiswal (RR): Yashasvi Jaiswal has been in tremendous form in this edition of IPL. He is RR’s top scorer this season with 477 runs in 11 innings, including three half-centuries and has been striking the ball at 160.61. RR will once again hope that the southpaw will deliver a standout performance to help them post a massive total if they bat first on a flat Eden Gardens wicket.
Shimron Hetmyer (RR): The pinch-hitter remains a key player for RR and will be looking to get back into form as quickly as possible. He has struggled in his role as a finisher in the recent past. In the last match, he did not have the time to get going and was unbeaten on seven off five balls.
Andre Russell (KKR): The West Indian has had a mixed outing in the IPL so far but in the last match against PBKS he showed glimpses of his muscle power. He scored a quickfire 42 off 23 balls, including three sixes, to help the Knights get back into the match with almost 60 to get in the last five overs.
Best Bowlers from KKR vs RR
Varun Chakaravarthy (KKR): The mystery spinner is back to his best in IPL 2023. Having picked up 17 wickets in 11 innings this season, Chakaravarthy is one of the contenders for the Purple Cap. He will be important against the likes of Sanju Samson and Shimron Hetmyer, who are clean strikers of the ball. Indeed, Eden Gardens is his favourite hunting ground in India. Of the 31 IPL wickets he has bagged in India, 10 have been at Eden Gardens, the most at any ground in India.
Suyash Sharma (KKR): He is one of the best finds for KKR and remains in the hunt to win the Emerging Player of the Year award in IPL 2023. He has picked up 10 wickets in eight games at an average of 25.80. Nitish Rana might gamble by giving him the new ball against the two fiery RR openers.
Yuzvendra Chahal (RR): Chahal is a master of guile and will be looking forward to bowling on the track that helps spinners. He has a lot of weapons in his armoury and has picked 17 wickets so far in the tournament. He was the key bowler for RR against SRH as he got four scalps including key wickets of Rahul Tripathi, Heinrich Klassen and Aiden Markram.
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Key Battles from KKR vs RR
Sunil Narine vs Jos Buttler: Narine has been far from his best this season. After taking six wickets in the first three games, he has managed just one scalp in the next eight. His economy of 8.60 is a personal low in an IPL season. However, his experience makes him dangerous against the England international. Narine has dismissed Buttler three times in T20 cricket and has conceded just 69 runs in 67 balls.
Andre Russell vs Yuzvendra Chahal: Russell is comfortable playing spin and his battle in the death overs with Chahal will be special. Eden Gardens has been the Caribbean player's fiefdom and it will take something special from the India international to get his wicket.
