Kolkata: Rajasthan Royals' star-studded batting will face a serious challenge of deciphering Sunil Narine's mystery at the Eden Gardens when they take on two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders in the top-flight IPL clash here on Tuesday.
Narine, who is a month away from turning 36, played a key role in KKR's double wins under former captain Gautam Gambhir in 2012 and 2014.
Since joining the team in 2012, Narine has made waves at the Eden Gardens with his efficient bowling, which has proved to be a major threat to the opposition batsmen.
Now reunited with Gambhir, who returned to the team as his mentor, Narine produced an all-round performance that rekindled their title hopes and a win against RR took them past the halfway stage in the 10-team standings. Will provide further status. Season.His 1/19 against Sunrisers Hyderabad or 1/17 against Lucknow Super Giant may have failed to grab attention, but those eight overs where he did not hit a single four made all the difference for KKR in the end.
Phil Salt may have walked away with the Player of the Match award in their only eight-wicket win over LSG here on Sunday, but it was Narine who restricted LSG to 161 in the middle overs. For 7.
On Tuesday, players like Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag and Shimron Hetmyer - who have all scored at a pace of over 155 this season - will again face Narine's challenge.
It remains to be seen whether Jos Buttler is fit to join the playing XI after missing his last match against Punjab Kings.
With his ability to express himself at the top, Narine, who has a strike rate of 183.51 and an average of over 33 this season, has a Rashid Khan-like aura in KKR.Their IPL record buy Mitchell Starc has also shut down all the noise of a return to the higher elements by taking two wickets in the last over in his 3/28 against LSG.
In such a scenario, the contest at the top of the table could be limited to KKR's bowling versus RR's batting.
KKR's only weakness could be the poor form of their captain Shreyas Iyer in batting.
Even though he remained unbeaten on 38 in the chase of 162 against LSG, Shreyas looked shaky against both fast bowlers and spinners, KKR's batting could be exposed if RR manages to get early breakthroughs.
KKR's batting this season has largely depended on Salt-Narine's explosive innings at the top and Andre Russell's aggression in the death overs, as their Indian batsmen have not been tested much.It has been a quiet season for Rinku Singh, who has scored 63 runs in four innings and has not got many chances, while team vice-captain Nitish Rana is out due to injury.
RR has a strong bowling lineup in the form of Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chaha and Keshav Maharaj, while it remains to be seen whether Ravichandran Ashwin is fit for the match or not.
Teams (from):
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer (captain), KS Bharat, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rink Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakraborty Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Harshit Rana, Suyyash Sharma Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, Saqib Hussain and Mujeeb Ur Rehman.
Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (captain), Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashaswa Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Ryan Parag, Donovan Ferreira, Krunal Rathod, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan. , Rovman Powell, Shubham Dubey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Abi Mushtaq, Nandre Berger, Tanush Kotian, Keshav Maharaj.Match start: 7:30 pm.
Narine, who is a month away from turning 36, played a key role in KKR's double wins under former captain Gautam Gambhir in 2012 and 2014.
Since joining the team in 2012, Narine has made waves at the Eden Gardens with his efficient bowling, which has proved to be a major threat to the opposition batsmen.
Now reunited with Gambhir, who returned to the team as his mentor, Narine produced an all-round performance that rekindled their title hopes and a win against RR took them past the halfway stage in the 10-team standings. Will provide further status. Season.His 1/19 against Sunrisers Hyderabad or 1/17 against Lucknow Super Giant may have failed to grab attention, but those eight overs where he did not hit a single four made all the difference for KKR in the end.
Phil Salt may have walked away with the Player of the Match award in their only eight-wicket win over LSG here on Sunday, but it was Narine who restricted LSG to 161 in the middle overs. For 7.
On Tuesday, players like Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag and Shimron Hetmyer - who have all scored at a pace of over 155 this season - will again face Narine's challenge.
It remains to be seen whether Jos Buttler is fit to join the playing XI after missing his last match against Punjab Kings.
With his ability to express himself at the top, Narine, who has a strike rate of 183.51 and an average of over 33 this season, has a Rashid Khan-like aura in KKR.Their IPL record buy Mitchell Starc has also shut down all the noise of a return to the higher elements by taking two wickets in the last over in his 3/28 against LSG.
In such a scenario, the contest at the top of the table could be limited to KKR's bowling versus RR's batting.
KKR's only weakness could be the poor form of their captain Shreyas Iyer in batting.
Even though he remained unbeaten on 38 in the chase of 162 against LSG, Shreyas looked shaky against both fast bowlers and spinners, KKR's batting could be exposed if RR manages to get early breakthroughs.
KKR's batting this season has largely depended on Salt-Narine's explosive innings at the top and Andre Russell's aggression in the death overs, as their Indian batsmen have not been tested much.It has been a quiet season for Rinku Singh, who has scored 63 runs in four innings and has not got many chances, while team vice-captain Nitish Rana is out due to injury.
RR has a strong bowling lineup in the form of Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chaha and Keshav Maharaj, while it remains to be seen whether Ravichandran Ashwin is fit for the match or not.
Teams (from):
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer (captain), KS Bharat, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rink Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakraborty Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Harshit Rana, Suyyash Sharma Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, Saqib Hussain and Mujeeb Ur Rehman.
Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (captain), Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashaswa Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Ryan Parag, Donovan Ferreira, Krunal Rathod, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan. , Rovman Powell, Shubham Dubey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Abi Mushtaq, Nandre Berger, Tanush Kotian, Keshav Maharaj.Match start: 7:30 pm.
