The last time these two teams met, the Rajasthan Royals just sneaked past the Kolkata Knight Riders in what was one of the most nerve-wrecking games of this year’s IPL season.
The last time these two teams met, the Rajasthan Royals just sneaked past the Kolkata Knight Riders in what was one of the most nerve-wrecking games of this year’s IPL season. As both the sides get ready for another go at each other, Royals would look to avoid any such ‘close-calls’ against the KKR when the two teams meet in an IPL encounter on Monday.
Their most meeting was at Abu Dhabi when both the teams ended their regulatory 20 overs on the same score, before also finishing level in the Super Over. Finally the match result was decided on the boundary count and the result was being awarded to the Royals in final analysis. Kolkata would be on revenge mode against the Rajasthan side that are on a high. The Blues chalked out a thumping win over Delhi Daredevils on Saturday with rookie Karun Nair slamming a 50-ball 73.
Shane Watson’s men go into the crunch game on Monday knowing their formidable batting remains their plus point. The team is on a 3-match winning run and given the miserable form which Kolkata are battling, a fourth victory on the trot does not look unlikely.
Royals’ batsmen have been in fine form but more would be expected of the likes of Shane Watson and Sanju Samson, both of whom have been making decent contributions. The bowling department seems steady as well with the likes of Praveen Tambe, Dhawal Kulkarni, James Faulkner and Kane Richardson getting in those crucial wickets.
In contrast, Kolkata have been living a nightmare, having suffered three back-to-back defeats. Their biggest concern right now is a floundering batting line-up with skipper Gautam Gambhir who has failed to produce a single innings of significance so far.
In their previous game against CSK, the likes of Robin Uthappa and Yusuf Pathan did conjure up some runs but it would take a lot more than that to win more games. On the bowling front, KKR have heavily relied on West Indian Sunil Narine as well as Bangladesh’s Shakib Al-Hasan.
Teams:
Rajasthan Royals: Shane Watson (c), Ajinkya Rahane, James Faulkner, Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson, Brad Hodge, Steven Smith, Abhishek Nayar, Ben Cutting, Kane Richardson, Tim Southee, Unmukt Chand, Ankush Bains, Vikramjeet Malik, Rahul Tewatia, Ankit Sharma, Amit Mishra, Deepak Hooda, Rajat Bhatia, Kevon Cooper, Iqbal Abdulla, Dhawal Kulkarni, Pravin Tambe, Karun Nair, Dishant Yagnik.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (c), Sunil Narine, Jacques Kallis, Robin Uthappa, Yusuf Pathan, Shakib Al Hasan, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Morne Morkel, Piyush Chawla, Manish Pandey, Veer Pratap Singh, Chris Lynn, Andre Russell, Sayan Sekhar Mandal, Pat Cummins, Debabrata Das, Suryakumar Yadav, Manvinder Bisla, Ryan ten Doeschate, Kuldeep Yadav.
