Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) enter a crucial stage of their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 campaign as they gear up to face high-flying Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Monday, May 2.
Kolkata know that they need to win all their remaining fixtures to keep their playoff hopes alive while Rajasthan will be keen to consolidate their position with a seventh victory this season.
KKR looked set to chase down that score before Yuzvendra Chahal grabbed four wickets in a single over, including his first IPL hat-trick to finish with 5/40 and seal the victory.
Umesh Yadav (3/24) bowled impressively to give KKR a chance but they failed to contain a late blitz from Rovman Powell (33 not-out off 16 balls) who dragged DC across the line.
KKR are guilty of chopping and changing, having made 13 changes to their playing XI so far, the most by any team in this season. Captain Shreyas Iyer will need to back his players and settle on a playing combination to break this five-match losing streak.
Rajasthan won’t be too bothered by that defeat though as they’ve made a strong start to the season with six wins from nine games. However, they’ll be keen to get back on track and avoid falling to back-to-back defeats.
KKR vs RR Team News:
KKR Team News: Kolkata made three changes in the last game with Aaron Finch, Harshit Rana and Baba Indrajith coming into the side. None of those three players made much of an impact and it’ll be interesting to see if KKR bring back Pat Cummins who has fallen out of favor.
RR Team News: Rajasthan unlike KKR have avoided making widespread changes and named an unchanged team for their last game. However, Daryl Mitchell hasn’t done much in the last two games and could make way for James Neesham who has played just one game this season.
KKR vs RR Pitch Report: The Wankhede Stadium has seen some high-scoring encounters this season but Kolkata played their last game here and struggled to get going against Delhi. The captain winning the Toss might prefer to bowl first with the smaller boundaries helping batters find boundaries with ease and time their chase.
Where to Watch LIVE: Match starts at 7.30 pm IST on Monday, May 2 with the Toss scheduled for 7.00 pm IST. The match will be telecast live on the Star Sports network. Viewers can also tune into the action via the Disney+ Hotstar.
KKR vs RR Top Fantasy League Picks:
Top Batting Picks: Shreyas Iyer has performed consistently despite a poor run of results for Kolkata. The KKR captain is his team’s highest scorer with 290 runs from 9 games. Jos Buttler meanwhile has 3 centuries and 3 fifties this season with one of those hundreds coming against KKR. The RR opener will be keen to add to his tally of 566 runs this season.
Top All Rounder Picks: Andre Russell has bowled just 16 overs for KKR but is their second-highest wicket-taker with 10 scalps and also the second-highest scorer with 227 runs to his name. Ravichandran Ashwin is making a habit of playing some quick scoring cameos and has even been promoted up to no. 3 on a few occasions this season. Ashwin has 8 wickets and could put in another all-round performance.
Top Bowling Picks: Yuzvendra Chahal leads the bowling charts this season with 19 wickets from just 9 games. He grabbed a five-wicket haul against KKR in the last game, including a hat-trick and will be keen to replicate that performance. Umesh Yadav is another bowling in good form and has 11 wickets to his name.
KKR vs RR Probable Playing XIs:
Kolkata Knight Riders (Predicted XI): Aaron Finch, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (C), Nitish Rana, Baba Indrajith (WK), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee and Harshit Rana.
Rajasthan Royals (Predicted XI): Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (C & WK), Daryl Mitchell, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Sen.
KKR vs RR Full Squads:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer (C), Aaron Finch, Abhijeet Tomar, Ajinkya Rahane, Baba Indrajith, Nitish Rana, Pratham Singh, Rinku Singh, Ashok Sharma, Pat Cummins, Rasikh Dar, Shivam Mavi, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Aman Khan , Andre Russell, Anukul Roy, Chamika Karunaratne, Mohammed Nabi, Ramesh Kumar, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Sam Billings, Sheldon Jackson.
Rajasthani Royals: Sanju Samson (C), Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Riyan Parag, KC Cariappa, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy, Anunay Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Karun Nair , Dhruv Jurel, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Shubham Garhwal, James Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rassie van der Dussen, Daryl Mitchell.
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