In today's IPL match, the current table toppers of the competition, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals will clash in match 31 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Tuesday. (Match Preview | Full IPL Coverage)
The Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals have won five out of six matches this season and are currently at the top of the table. Shreyas Iyer's KKR are just below them with four wins in five games.
Philip Salt, the destructive opening batter of KKR, smashed 89 runs not out in their last game against Lucknow Super Giants at the same venue on Sunday. Mitchell Starc also found his rhythm with three wickets against LSG.
Riyan Parag and Sanju Samson have been the backbone of RR's batting this season but other batters also need to come up and take responsibility. RR went with a different playing XI in their last match against Punjab Kings where they secured a narrow win thanks to Shimron Hetmyer's cameo in the end.
Squads:
Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson(w/c), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Tanush Kotian, Keshav Maharaj, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Sen, Yuzvendra Chahal, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Shubham Dubey, Navdeep Saini, Abid Mushtaq, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jos Buttler, Sandeep Sharma, Nandre Burger, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Singh Rathore
Kolkata Knight Riders: Philip Salt(w), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer(c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Manish Pandey, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rinku Singh, Allah Ghazanfar, Sakib Hussain, Sherfane Rutherford, Chetan Sakariya, Nitish Rana, Srikar Bharat, Dushmantha Chameera
As the top two teams of this season prepare for an interesting face-off, three key-player battles are worth looking out for;
1. Sanju Samson vs Harshit Rana
Sanju Samson has been playing brilliantly lately, scoring 264 runs in just six innings with an outstanding average of 66.00. He is known for taking his time to settle down before playing his shots. Meanwhile, Harshit Rana has been impressive with his pace and accuracy, and he could pose a challenge for Samson. However, being an experienced batter, Samson is likely to come up with some strategies to counter Rana's attacks.
2. Philip Salt vs Trent Boult
Philip Salt is an aggressive opening batter for Kolkata Knight Riders who prefers to attack bowlers from the very beginning of the match. He, along with Sunil Narine, are responsible for setting the tempo of the innings with their explosive batting. On the other hand, Trent Boult is known for his ability to take early wickets. He can swing the ball both ways, which can make him a dangerous threat for Salt and the Rajasthan Royals team on Tuesday.
3. Riyan Parag vs Mitchell Starc
Mitchell Starc showed his true potential in the previous match against Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday by taking three wickets. His length and accuracy were commendable, which could pose a possible threat to Riyan Parag, who has been very promising in this season of the IPL. Parag has evolved as a player in the last few games and with the world's best bowler in front of him, he wouldn't want to miss the chance to score runs against him.
