The second match at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur will witness a clash between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and visiting side Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), for a couple of points – to gain further momentum into the tournament.
Both Royals and Knight Riders are coming off a win respectively. In addition, KKR have won two out of four while Royals have won two out of three.
Here’s a look at the predicted XI of Kolkata’s Knight Riders.
Chris Lynn:
Chris Lynn developed a reputation of hitting the ball right from the word go, last year (2017) in the IPL.
However, this time around, we are looking at a more conservative Lynn, who is taking his time to get going.
Lynn scored 31 in a peculiarly slow fashion, much like the story throughout the tournament so far.
Clearly, the series of shoulder injuries have affected Lynn’s clean hitting abilities, which was primarily the reason for retaining him.
Robin Uthappa:
Robin Uthappa should be opening in the away game at Jaipur, deriving from the trend where Sunil Narine is used as an opener only in home games at Kolkata.
Further, Dinesh Karthik mentioned that Narine is not the designated opener during a press conference.
Uthappa displayed exceptional hitting prowess in the game against Delhi, where he smashed three glorious hits during his 19-ball 35.
Nitish Rana:
Nitish Rana was the Player of the Match in the game against Daredevils, for his explosive yet classy knock of 59 off just 35 deliveries. Rana entertained the home crowd with nine glorious hits to the boundary, four of them over it.
Rana looks a complete player who now deserves a national selection along with Sanju Samson from the Rajasthan Royals. The two are exceptionally talented and it’s eventually hard to ignore them at the international level.
Sunil Narine:
Sunil Narine could not carry on from where he left off against the RCB where he smashed a half-century in just 17 balls. If one can deduce from the previous games, Narine has opened only at their homebase Kolkata.
However, with the ball, he is amongst the leaderboard in the wickets tally thus far.
In the game against Delhi, he stood out with three wickets, conceding only a run-a-ball.
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Dinesh Karthik:
Dinesh Karthik, who still has to be adopted by Kolkata crowd, even after the knock he played against Sri Lanka, would be kicking himself after his dismissal to Chris Morris.
The South African played a game of probability to Karthik. Morris continuously hit full balls onto his pads on three occasions and which was dispatched to boundaries on the first two occasions.
The third one found the fielder at midwicket. Karthik has been leading his troops well with the field placements and bowling changes.
Andre Russell:
Andre Russell, the most loved personality at Eden Gardens, displayed brutal hitting skills. One of his monster hit went all the way over 102-metre long for what should be a 12.
Russell rescued his team by adding 41 off just 12 deliveries, which consisted only of six sixes and five singles.
When he was done with the bat, Russell took a wicket with the new ball to dismiss Shreyas Iyer, who looked like giving a present – to Rana at slips for his efforts with the bat for the Kolkata Knight Riders.
Shubman Gill:
Exciting young gun Shubman Gill displayed a moment of brilliance, which kept on providing us with, in the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand, where he was the leading run-getter.
One might expect a promotion around the corner, even though Karthik was adamant about his position lower down the order.
Tom Curran:
Tom Curran’s impact has been nullified by the effect of spinners in Kolkata Knight Riders camp. The Englishman gave away more than twenty in his overs.
Maybe, at one point in time, Cameron Delport may be tried in place of Lynn and Curran, which might give Gill an opportunity up the order for the Kolkata Knight Riders.
Shivam Mavi:
Shivam Mavi was one of the stars in the match against Delhi where he impressed with his fast bowling skills coupled with his electric fielding abilities, apart from the one drop catch.
Piyush Chawla:
Piyush Chawla dismissed the dangerous Roy with his guile in the very first over of the KKR bowling efforts.
Eventually, the spin trio complemented each other perfectly in all the matches so far – to make it the most potent spin attack in the tournament along with SRH.
Kuldeep Yadav:
The man from who caught the big fishes in Delhi Daredevils lineup, Maxwell , and Pant who were threatening to chase down the target on their own, which they are perfectly capable of.
Yadav ended up with three wickets in the innings for Kolkata Knight Riders.
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