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Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals will lock horns in a mid-table tussle at the Eden Gardens here on Thursday, in a bid to improve their chances of qualifying for the Indian Premier League playoffs.
KKR, having won its last two matches, will look to sustain its revival, whereas RR, which has lost three on the trot, will need to arrest its downward slide.
The host will continue to depend on its reliable hands in batting. Openers Jason Roy and Rahmanullah Gurbaz – who underlined his worth in batting and keeping, especially in the last outing where he took some sensational catches against Punjab Kings – and the following batters Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh and all-rounder Andre Russell can punish any attack.
KKR relies heavily on its spinners, led by Varun Chakravarthy. It will require its pacers to perform tidily at its home ground, which has seen high-scoring duels.
RR too has spinners of the caliber of Yuzvendra Chahal and R. Ashwin who provide teeth to its bowling attack. But the side needs its pacers, such as Trent Boult and Sandeep Sharma, to provide adequate support.
RR, despite having a potent attack, has leaked runs profusely. The Sanju Samson-led team, which gathered 200-plus totals thrice in its last four matches but lost two of these three fixtures, must find a way to defend its aggregate.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler and Sanju shoulder maximum responsibility in RR’s formidable batting line-up.
Tied on 10 points with three matches to go, the margin of error is minimal for both sides.
SQUADS
Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson(w/c), Joe Root, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Murugan Ashwin, Sandeep Sharma, Kuldip Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Devdutt Padikkal, Adam Zampa, Riyan Parag, Jason Holder, Obed McCoy, Trent Boult, Navdeep Saini, Akash Vasisht, KC Cariappa, KM Asif, Kuldeep Sen, Donavon Ferreira, Abdul Basith, Kunal Singh Rathore
Kolkata Knight Riders: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jason Roy, Anukul Roy, N Jagadeesan, Lockie Ferguson, Kulwant Khejroliya, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Mandeep Singh, Johnson Charles, David Wiese, Aarya Desai
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