Neither KKR nor RR have managed to find a combination that can consistently deliver victory for them. The only solace, if any, is both teams know at least one side will have won their second match after Saturday’s encounter.
KKR are coming into the game having gone down to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their previous encounter. Their bowling was battered brutally by Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad. Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, Andre Russell and Kamlesh Nagarkoti went for plenty, with only Varun Chakravarthy making an impact with the ball. KKR will have to put up a much-better show against RR.
In the batting, their top half fell for nothing, but Russell, Cummins and Dinesh Karthik led a tremendous fight back, which saw them lose by only 18 runs in the end. Cummins was particularly brilliant in the end with his monster hitting. While the lower-order’s performance augurs well for KKR, it is the top-order’s role to score heavy runs. The form of Shubman Gill and Eoin Morgan might be worrying KKR.
It wouldn’t be wrong to say that RR were absolutely badgered by RCB in their last match. The 10-wicket triumph was as emphatic as it could get. RR have struggled with their batting. Except for Jos Buttler and skipper Sanju Samson in one match each, their batting just hasn’t come together. Even their triumph over DC was stitched together with a flurry of sixes at the end. With Manan Vohra having registered four failures in a row, RR might go in for a change at the top of the order.
Their bowling really couldn’t do much against RCB as Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli went on a rampage. Chetan Sakariya has been their most impressive bowler overall while Jaydev Unadkat and Mustafizur Rahman have also made some good contributions. RR would, however, want their million dollar baby, Chris Morris, to stand up and deliver.
Predicted XIs
KKR: Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Sunil Narine, Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy, Kamlesh Nagarkoti
RR: Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (C & WK), Shivam Dube, David Miller, Riyan Parag, Chris Morris, Rahul Tewatia, Jaydev Unadkat, Chetan Sakariya, Mustafizur Rahman
--Renin Wilben Albert
