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Match details
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR – 2nd; P5 W4 L1) vs Rajasthan Royals (RR – 1st; P6 W5 L1)
Kolkata, 7.30pm IST (2pm GMT)
Big picture
Royals have an attack full of experience and guile that time and again comes away from games having controlled each phase of a bowling innings. KKR have a line-up of seemingly endless depth, thanks to a pair of ageless West Indian allrounders, which gives their batters almost limitless freedom to play their shots.
These are two very different teams, but they’re similar in how innovative they can be in tactical terms. If enough players on both sides click, then, this contest could be quite a feast for the viewer.
Form guide
Kolkata Knight Riders WLWWW (most recent match first)
Rajasthan Royals WLWWW
Team news and Impact Player strategy
Kolkata Knight Riders
Nitish Rana hasn’t featured for KKR since injuring his hand during their first game of the season, against Sunrisers Hyderabad on March 23. Rana was seen training ahead of their most recent game, against Lucknow Super Giants, and KKR will certainly be tempted to play him if he’s fully fit – particularly if R Ashwin is in the opposition (more on this shortly).
Likely XII 1 Phil Salt (wk), 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Angkrish Raghuvanshi/Nitish Rana, 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 5 Venkatesh Iyer, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Ramandeep Singh, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Vaibhav Arora, 11 Harshit Rana, 12 Varun Chakravarthy.
Rajasthan Royals
Jos Buttler and Ashwin missed Royals’ most recent match, against Punjab Kings on Saturday, with niggles. Both are expected to slot back in if fit, with Tanush Kotian – an offspinner who didn’t bowl and opened the batting in that game against Punjab – and either Rovman Powell or Keshav Maharaj, depending on the toss result, returning to the subs bench.
Likely XII 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Jos Buttler, 3 Sanju Samson (capt & wk), 4 Riyan Parag, 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Dhruv Jurel, 7 Rovman Powell/Keshav Maharaj, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Trent Boult, 10 Avesh Khan, 11 Kuldeep Sen, 12 Yuzvendra Chahal.
In the spotlight
Harshit Rana was an unsung hero for KKR in their win over LSG on Sunday, his figures of 0 for 35 concealing how much of an impact he made by conceding just 16 off 11 balls to Nicholas Pooran despite their skirmish taking place during the 17th and 19th overs. Harshit’s changes of pace and use of the over-the-wicket angle to slant the ball away from the left-hander’s hitting arc were crucial to this, and he might need to call on those defensive skills again if he comes up against Shimron Hetmyer on Tuesday.
Stats that matter
Pitch and conditions
Karthik Krishnaswamy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
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