Table-toppers Rajasthan Royals have displayed some sublime form in the ongoing IPL 2020 and have won both their matches so far. Next up against them on Wednesday, will be Dinesh Karthik’s Kolkata Knight Riders who are coming fresh from a victory, and would like to keep up the winning momentum.
Rajasthan Royals
In the two matches Rajasthan has played so far, their batting has looked impeccable, with the presence of Sanju Samson & Steve Smith. While these two have formed the core of the batting, other players have chipped in with healthy contributions in the need of the hour — be it Rahul Tewatia or Jofra Archer. While the batting seems to be sorted for the moment, they are greatly missing the presence of Ben Stokes, who provides excellent stability to the team. He would have bolstered the bowling, which is currently under the pump.
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Though Archer is their spearhead, he too was taken to the cleaners in the match against Kings XI Punjab. Tom Curran and Jaydev Undakat don’t seem to be adding much value to the bowling unit, and Ankit Rajpoot will have to come up with the goods against KKR. As far as spin is concerned, Shreyas Gopal hasn’t come up with a strong performance yet, and Tewatia though picks up wickets, is expensive. So Smith will have to come up with a strong playing XI against KKR.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Even though KKR won their last match against SRH — largely due to the efforts of Shubman Gill, their batting has been far from impressive. All their other main batsmen — Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Eoin Morgan, Sunil Narine, haven’t performed well at all. If they collectively fail to perform, they might just lose the match against Rajasthan.
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The bowlers on the other hand have done decently well. Narine and Russell have been economical and have picked up wickets too. Pat Cummins was excellent in the match against SRH. But it will be their batting that will have to win the game for them.
Head to Head:
10 (RR) 10 (KKR) (21 matches)
WHAT: IPL 2020, Match 12
WHEN: September 30, 7:30PM IST
WHERE: Dubai
TELECAST: Star Sports Network
LIVE STREAMING: Disney + Hotstar
Predicted XI
Rajasthan Royals – Riyan Parag, Robin Uthappa, Steven Smith, Shreyas Gopal, Tom Curran, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Ankit Rajpoot, Jofra Archer, Kartik Tyagi, Rahul Tewatia
Kolkata Knight Riders – Eoin Morgan, Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Dinesh Karthik, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Pat Cummins, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy