IPL 2021 : RR V KKR Match Preview & Probable XIs

RR V KKR – HEAD TO HEAD : 22 MATCHES             

RR WON : 10, KKR WON : 12

Rajasthan Royals will take on Kolkata Knight Riders in the 18^th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 on Saturday, April 24 at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. RR and KKR are ranked No. 8 and No. 7 respectively. Both the teams have a solitary win to show and would be keen to improve their positions on the points table.

Rajasthan Royals were steamrolled by Royal Challengers Bangalore in their previous game. RCB chased down the target of 178 runs without breaking a sweat. RR were handed a 10 wicket defeat and that has dented their NRR severely. Nothing seems to be going their way. They are certainly missing the services of Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer, both being ruled out of the IPL 2021. Handy contributions from Shivam Dube, Riyan Parag and Rahul Tewatia with the bat was the only positive for RR from their match against RCB.

KKR, on the other hand, have several issues too. Their bowlers have leaked too many runs. Pat Cummins’ form has been a big concern for them. He has been expensive at the death and hasn’t  been able to provide breakthroughs. KKR would want their best bowler to step up. Prasidh Krishna finds himself in a similar situation too. He has 4 wickets to his name in the 4 matches and has given away runs with an economy of 9.81.

For the RR, their captain, Sanju Samson needs to step up. A big score here and there and then a string of low scores has been the story of Samson’s IPL career. He would definitely look to be more careful with his shot selection. Jos Buttler has got starts but hasn’t covert it into big scores and that is hurting RR’s chances in the powerplay.

Eoin Morgan is yet to contribute with the bat. He has had a quite IPL till now. His returning to form will provide the much needed stability to the KKR middle order. Andre Russell showed what he can do with the bat in the previous match. He came in and displayed his hitting prowess, scoring 54 off just 22 balls with three fours and six sixes.

Going by the trend, it is expected to be another high scoring encounter at the Wankhede stadium. Teams will prefer to field first given no total looks safe here.

There is not much RR can do about their playing XI. They would certainly want all the players to perform in unison. Though there’s a possibility of change at top of the order. Yashavi Jaiswal might replace Manan Vohra.

KKR may bring in Shivam Mavi at the expense of Kamlesh Nagarkoti. Nagarkoti was quite expensive with ball in the previous outing and Shivam Mavi would serve as a like to like replacement. Apart from this, they are likely to stick with the same combination.

RR v KKR – Probable XIs :

RR :  Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal/Manan Vohra, Sanju Samson (C), Shivam Dube, David Miller, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Shreyas Gopal, Chetan Sakariya, Mustafizur Rahman

KKR :  Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan (C), Dinesh Karthik, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Kamlesh Nagarkoti/Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Prasidh Krishna