Riding on the chariot of victory, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will take on Rajasthan Royals in the IPL on Saturday and will try to reach the top four in the points table with their third consecutive win. At the same time, Rajasthan will be desperate to break their losing streak from the last three matches.


KKR have kept their hopes of reaching the playoffs alive by defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings in the last two matches. Captain Nitish Rana's team KKR's confidence has increased by winning both matches. Defending runners-up Rajasthan is troubled by the defeats in the last three matches. The situation has become do or die for him.


KKR dependent on spinners
KKR is heavily dependent on spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Suyash Sharma and both have done well so far. Chakraborty defended nine runs well against Hyderabad while his bowling against Punjab created good pressure. However, Sunil Narine is creating trouble for the team. If he is struggling to take wickets, he is not able to contribute with the bat. At the same time, fast bowling remains a problem for KKR. The absence of Shardul Thakur in the match against Punjab has weakened their fast bowling and Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana have proved to be very expensive.

Rajasthan's top-order strong
Young openers Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, and skipper Sanju Samson have been doing well and this has strengthened Rajasthan's top order. KKR bowlers will have a challenge to get these three batsmen out quickly.
Bowlers are increasing the trouble
If Rajasthan has reached the situation of do or die, then its bowlers have failed in this. Even his bowlers are unable to defend the team's runs above 200. agency

Possible playing 11 of both the teams

Kolkata Knight Riders: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Jason Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Vaibhav Arora/Umesh Yadav, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakraborty.
Impact Player: Suyash Sharma

Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (wk/c), Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Adam Zampa, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal
Impact Player: Riyan Parag

(pc zeenews)