Their confidence severely dented after two comprehensive defeats on the trot, last edition's runner-up side Kolkata Knight Riders would seek to get their inconsistent campaign back on track when they face Rajasthan Royals in an IPL 2022 match on Monday.
KKR were beaten by Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad by 44 runs and seven wickets respectively in their last two matches. They had earlier lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore. With three wins and three losses, KKR are at the mid-table while the Royals have won three matches.
KKR had an impressive start to the league with three wins from four matches but the back-to-back losses had taken them down below the top-4 and they would look to regain that slot. But to do that they will have to pull themselves up in both batting and bowling.
LIVE STREAMING - WHERE TO SEE LIVE
The Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders match will be seen live on Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 Hindi HD, Star Sports 1 Tamil, Star Sports 1 Telugu, Star Sports 1 Kannada, Star Sports Select 1 and Star Sports Select 1 HD. Fans can also view the live streaming of Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders match on Disney+ Hotstar from 7:30 PM IST.
TEAM NEWS
Kolkata Knight Riders: None of the batters, except for Andre Russell, has been consistent so far while the likes of spinner Varun Chakravarthy and pacer Pat Cummins have dished out average performances. Russell is the current top-scorer for KKR with 179 runs from six matches and has also contributed with five wickets.
Captain Shreyas lyer has not been in the best of form with just one half-century in his name for a total of 151 runs while Nitish Rana and Venkatesh Iyer have been lacking in consistency. Sam Billings is also struggling to get runs.
In the bowling department, none, except pacer Umesh Yadav (10 wickets from 6 matches) has been up to expectations. Chakravarthy, KKR's highest wicket-taker last season, has been struggling big time with just four wickets from six matches.
Chakravarthy's senior spin colleague Sunil Narine is also in the same boat with just four wickets. Australia Test captain Cummins, who joined late due to national commitment, also needs to step up and do better than his current figures of three wickets from as many matches.
Rajasthan Royals: Rajasthan Royals will start as favourites on Monday with the tournament’s both highest run-getter and wicket-taker in their ranks in Jos Buttler and Yuzvendra Chahal. Chahal has been in top form with 12 wickets from five matches and he would fancy to add more scalps to his name.
Veteran New Zealand pacer Trent Boult (7 wickets from 4 matches) is the other Royals bowler who has been doing well. Ravichandran Ashwin is terribly out of form with just one wicket from five matches while conceding 143 runs.
Rajasthan Royals have not fired as a batting unit with the likes of captain Sanju Samson and the hugely talented Devdutt Padikkal failing to click so far. Their batting has revolved mainly around Buttler, who has set the IPL on fire with 272 runs from five matches with one hundred and two fifties. Shimron Hetmyer has been the only other Royals batter to have done well so far.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Out of the 25 matches played between the two teams, Kolkata Knight Riders won 13. Rajasthan Royals won 11 while one game ended in no result.
VENUE AND PITCH
The Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders encounter will be played at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai from 7:30 PM IST. The venue has hosted seven IPL 2022 games so far with all being high-scoring encounters. Out of seven 200-plus totals in the IPL 2022 so far, Brabourne Stadium has witnessed three of them. KL Rahul’s first hundred in IPL 2022 also came at this venue against Mumbai Indians on Saturday.
LIKELY PLAYING XIs
Kolkata Knight Riders: Aaron Finch, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Sheldon Jackson (wk), Pat Cummins, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Aman Hakim Khan, Varun Chakravarthy.
Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Rassie van der Dussen, Shimron Hetmyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Riyan Parag, James Neesham, Kuldeep Sen, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal.
With PTI Inputs
