After losing their first matches, both Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) are all prepared to clinch their first win in their upcoming encounter on Wednesday, March 26, at Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati.
In the first game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Knight Riders dramatically collapsed in between the middle overs, which restricted them to 177 runs in 20 overs. While chasing, RCB comfortably achieved the target in just 16.2 overs and registered a comfortable win.
Following their first loss, the defending champions will be required to look into their batting, especially in the middle order. However, in the bowling department, they have the option of bringing in Anrich Nortje in place of Spencer Johnson, who was completely ineffective with the new ball.
On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals bowling attack got smashed severely in every corner of the ground by the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), who made the second-highest total in IPL history of 286/6. In reply, Rajasthan scored 242 runs in 20 overs, defining their good batting line-up, which will become a threat to KKR’s bowling.
However, they might think to make some changes in their bowling department, keeping in mind their star bowler Jofra Archer’s worst performance, who leaked 76 runs with a bad economy of 19 runs in 4 overs. Having options of Kumar Kartikeya, Wanindu Hasaranga, and Kwena Maphaka in their squad, RR might think to make possible bowling changes.
Furthermore, Royal’s young captain Riyan Parag has a great opportunity to make a name for himself at his hometown in Guwahati. Parag has the chance to shine being the leader of his side against Ajinkya Rahane’s Kolkata Knight Riders.
However, since it’s still early in the tournament, Rajasthan may avoid a knee-jerk reaction and stick with the same playing XI. As a result, both teams could likely enter the game with unchanged lineups.
Rajasthan Royals Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubham Dubey, Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag(c), Dhruv Jurel(w), Shimron Hetmyer, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Sharma, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Sanju Samson, Kunal Singh Rathore, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya, Kwena Maphaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Ashok Sharma, Vaibhav Suryavanshi
Kolkata Knight Riders Squad: Quinton de Kock(w), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Spencer Johnson, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Anrich Nortje, Manish Pandey, Vaibhav Arora, Anukul Roy, Luvnith Sisodia, Chetan Sakariya, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Mayank Markande, Rovman Powell, Moeen Ali
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