In the 54th match of the IPL 2020, Eoin Morgan-led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are facing Steven Smith-led Rajasthan Royals (RR) at Dubai International Cricket Stadium (Dubai).
Both teams are playing their 14th or last league stage game in the ongoing IPL 2020. In the IPL 2020 points table (updated till 31st October 2020), while both have already earned 12 points (6 wins and 7 loses) each, Rajasthan Royals are in the 6th position and Kolkata Knight Riders are in the 7th position. It is the must-win game for both these teams to remain in the fight for the playoffs qualification.
It is their second meeting this season. During the 12th match of the IPL 2020 (at Dubai on 30th September 2020), they met for the first time this season where KKR won by 37 runs.
IPL 2020, Match 54: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals (KKR vs RR) – Toss Report
Rajasthan Royals captain Steven Smith won the toss and decided to field first. RR are the unchanged side in this match.
Smith said, “We will bowl first, dew seems to be coming in and that’s the big reason. We have bowled well majority of the tournament and hopefully we will go well tonight. The games we haven’t done well, our senior batters haven’t done well and fortunately Stokes and Samson are in good nick. We are unchanged.”
On the other hand, Kolkata Knight Riders captain Eoin Morgan confirmed that they made two changes in the playing XI. Andre Russell and Shivam Mavi replaced Lockie Ferguson and Rinku Singh.
Morgan said, “We would have prefered to chase. It’s not a night for holding back and on top of that we need to improve the NRR. He (Andre Russell) is back and it is great to have him back and so let’s hope tonight is the night. Lockie is out. Rinku Singh misses out and Shivam Mavi comes in. As a side you want to get into a position to win the game and then think about other (NRR) scenarios.”
IPL 2020, Match 54: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals (KKR vs RR) – Playing XIs
Rajasthan Royals (RR): Robin Uthappa, Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson (wk), Steven Smith (C), Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Varun Aaron, Kartik Tyagi
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR): Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Sunil Narine, Eoin Morgan (C), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Andre Russell, Rahul Tripathi, Pat Cummins, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy