Kolkata Knight Riders will lock horns against Rajasthan Royals in the 56th match of the ongoing IPL 2023 at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Thursday. KKR had won their previous match against Punjab Kings by five wickets while playing at home whereas Rajasthan Royals had suffered a four-wicket loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their last game.
Andre Russell had roared back to form as he had scored a blistering knock of 42 runs off just 23 balls against PBKS and this knock must have added a shot in his arm. Furthermore, Varun Chakravarthy took three wickets whereas Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh played crucial roles in the win.
On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals dominated 75% of the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad but their bowlers could not hold their nerves towards the end.
They batted brilliantly as Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson scored 95 and 66 runs respectively but Sandeep Sharma and Kuldip Yadav could not defend 41 runs in the last two overs.
Ergo, Rajasthan Royals will want to come up with an improved bowling performance against KKR. The Eden Gardens is known to assist the spinners and thus Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal will hold the key for the visitors.
Match Prediction: Rajasthan Royals will enter the contest as favorites against Kolkata Knight Riders as they have better balance in their squad.
KKR IPL 2023 SQUAD
Wicketkeepers: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (AFG), N. Jagadeesan, Litton Das (BAN).
Batters: Jason Roy, Nitish Rana ©, Rinku Singh, Mandeep Singh.
All-rounders: Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Andre Russel (WI), Shardul Thakur, David Wiese (NAM).
Bowlers: Lockie Ferguson (NZ), Harshit Rana, Sunil Narine (WI), Tim Southee (NZ), Varun Chakravarthy, Umesh Yadav, Suyash Sharma, Vaibhav Arora, Kulwant Khejroliya.
RR IPL 2023 SQUAD
Wicketkeepers: Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler (ENG), Dhruv Jurel, Kunal Rathore, Donovan Ferreira (SA).
Batters: Shimron Hetmyer (WI), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Riyan Parag, Joe Root (ENG).
All-rounders: Ravichandran Ashwin, Abdul P A, Akash Vashisht, Jason Holder (WI).
Bowlers: Trent Boult (NZ), KC Cariappa, Yuzvendra Chahal, Obed McCoy (WI), Sandeep Sharma, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Sen, Kuldip Yadav, Murugan Ashwin, Adam Zampa (AUS), KM Asif.
