Sharjah: Kolkata Knight Riders will eye a win over a struggling Rajasthan Royals in their last round-robin game to seal a play-off berth of the Indian Premier League(IPL) at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
With 12 points from 13 matches, Eoin Morgan are currently at fourth in the table just ahead of Mumbai Indians on net run-rate despite being tied with points the defending champions. have a match to play against bottom-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday. If both Kolkata and Mumbai win their last matches, then it will come down to the net run rate equations where the two time champions, KKR (0.294) would have an edge over the MI outfit (-0.048).
In the last game, Kolkata registered a 6 wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in Dubai. Tim Southee(2/26) and Varun Chakravarthy(2/26) lead a superb bowling performance to restrict SRH to 115. Subhman Gill(57) starred with the bat for the KKR in the chase. Although the side lost the rhythm midway through the innings however, Dinesh Karthik(18) added the finish to seal to deal.
The narrow win indicated that there’s need for collective effort from their batters. Moreover, captain Eoin Morgan needs to be among the runs. They have been in a this sort of situation in the last couple of seasons as well – losing crucial games and waiting for results to go their way and eventually falling short of last four. This time, they would be looking to break the spell.
Chances for Rajasthan to reach the last four washed away after an eight-wicket defeat at the hands of Mumbai Indians on Tuesday, . It’s their inconsistency that has costed them big this season. They don’t have much to gain or lose from this game, however they do have the chance to spoil the Knight Riders’ party, which could keep the playoffs race alive till the final group game on Friday. Also in that case, KKR will have to take their calculators out.
