Dubai: Boyued by the huge win in their last game against Kings XI Punjab, Rajasthan Royals (RR) would like to continue in the same vein when they take on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Dubai International Stadium on Wednesday (September 30) in Indian Premier League.
Both teams have played two games each in the tournament. Royals sit pretty at the top of the table with two wins from as many matches while KKR lost against Mumbai Indians before winning against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
RR have played both their games at Sharjah where the short boundaries have ensured a run-fest each time. Whereas KKR have played both their games at Abu Dhabi, with slightly larger boundaries. The Steve Smith-led side have been in great form as they chased the highest ever run-chase in the IPL and KKR’s bowling seems to be in quite great shape after a grand performance against the Sunrisers.
With their top order in solid touch, the Royals would be a happy and confident bunch after Rahul Tewatia’s heroics in the last match including Jofra Archer whose big hits lower down the order have been an added bonus. With their bowlers also among wickets, Smith is expected to go with an unchanged XI.
As far as KKR is concerned, Pat Cummins has shown in the last why is regarded as one of the tops in the world. in batting, Shubman Gill showed his class with the willow as he scored an unbeaten 70 in the chase against SRH. Dinesh Karthik is the only KKR batsman who is yet to be among the runs. The season has started in the pandemic situation above all, and it is expected that the Kolkata captain will have enough time to boost up his performance.
Squads:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik(w/c), Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Shivam Mavi, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Sandeep Warrier, Rahul Tripathi, Siddhesh Lad, Nikhil Naik, Chris Green, Prasidh Krishna, Lockie Ferguson, Rinku Singh, Ali Khan, Tom Banton, Manimaran Siddharth
Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler(w), Steven Smith(c), Sanju Samson, Rahul Tewatia, Robin Uthappa, Jofra Archer, Riyan Parag, Tom Curran, Shreyas Gopal, Ankit Rajpoot, Jaydev Unadkat, Varun Aaron, David Miller, Aniruddha Joshi, Manan Vohra, Andrew Tye, Shashank Singh, Mahipal Lomror, Oshane Thomas, Mayank Markande, Anuj Rawat, Kartik Tyagi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Akash Singh
