Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will look to put an end to their winless run when they take on Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the 47th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday.
It has been a bizarre season for the Shahrukh Khan-owned franchise as their poor auction strategies have backfired heavily. As a result, they haven't got a proper start in any of the matches so far, with Aaron Finch and Venkatesh Iyer failing on multiple occasions.
Their lineup has match-winners like Pat Cummins, Andre Russell, and Sunil Narine, but they all looked off-colour in the last few matches. Skipper Shreyas Iyer and Nitish Rana are the only consistent batters, while Umesh Yadav has been their most successful bowler so far.
Win-less in five, Kolkata Knight Riders will be heading into this game to put an end to their losing streak of 5 consecutive matches to keep their 'slight' playoff hopes alive.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals' three matches winning streak finally came to an end on Saturday as the five-time champions Mumbai Indians finally managed to beat the Sanju Samson-led unit by 5 wickets. But, apart from Buttler, no other batter stood up to give a decent finish to the team.
So far, Rajasthan have played nine games, winning six and losing three. With 12 points and a decent NRR of +0.450, they are placed at the third spot on the points table.
Buttler is in sublime form and has already stacked three centuries in the tournament. He, along with Padikkal, provided some aggressive starts to the team, and they would be expecting the same against Shreyas Iyer and Co on Monday.
Skipper Sanju Samson has played some quick cameos, and he might take on KKR bowlers to bring his one big match knock, which is still due in the tournament.
The Royals' bowlers have been in top form as the pacers, and the spin mates Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal are wreaking havoc in the tournament. With both teams keen to clinch an all-important win, a cracking game beckons in Mumbai.
Match Details
Match: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals, Match 47
Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Date & Time: 2nd May at 7:30 PM IST & Local Time
Live Streaming: Star Sports Network and Disney+Hotstar
Pitch Report: The pitch at Wankhede has been a batting-friendly one, with teams easily crossing the 180-run mark. The shorter boundaries at the stadium allow batters to take on the bowlers from the word go. Bowlers, however, need to stick to the right lengths to pick wickets at this venue. Considering the trend and the dew, both teams might opt to bowl first after winning the toss. Anything around 180-200 is a competitive total at this venue.
Pitch Stats [Last 5 Matches]
Matches Played: 5
Matches Won Batting First: 3
Matches Won Bowling First: 2
Average 1st Inning Score: 178
Average 2nd Inning Score: 169
Key Matchups
Nitish vs Chahal: 72/5 at 122 SR
Buttler vs Varun: 28/2 at 215 SR
Buttler vs Umesh: 77/1 at 163 SR
Finch vs Krishna: 36/2 at 150 SR
Finch vs Boult: 76/2 at 133 SR
Samson vs Russell: 32/2 at 168 SR
Hetmyer vs Varun: 6/1 at 100 SR
Padikkal vs Narine: 9/1 at 112 SR
Samson vs Narine: 30/1 at 79 SR
KKR vs RR Head-To-Head [Last 10 Matches]
Matches Played: 10
KKR Won: 7
RR Won: 3
Squads
Kolkata Knight Riders: Aaron Finch, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (C), Baba Indrajith (WK), Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Ajinkya Rahane, Mohammad Nabi, Sam Billings, Pat Cummins, Sheldon Jackson, Chamika Karunaratne, Anukul Roy, Shivam Mavi, Pratham Singh, Abhijeet Tomar, Varun Chakravarthy, Aman Hakim Khan, Ashok Sharma, Ramesh Kumar.
Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (C & WK), Daryl Mitchell, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Sen, Karun Nair, James Neesham, Rassie van der Dussen, Navdeep Saini, KC Cariappa, Obed McCoy, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anunay Singh, Dhruv Jurel, Shubham Garhwal.
Probable Playing XI
Kolkata Knight Riders: Aaron Finch, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (C), Nitish Rana, Baba Indrajith (WK), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana.
Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (C & WK), Daryl Mitchell, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Sen.
CREX XI Suggestion
Wicket-Keeper: Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson
Batters: Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Devdutt Padikkal
All-Rounders: Ravichandran Ashwin, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell
Bowlers: Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Sen
Captain: Jos Buttler
Vice-Captain: Andre Russell