The Rajasthan Royals (RR) are set to take the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Brabourne Stadium today in the 30th match of IPL 2022. After losing their last two outings by significant margins, the Kolkata side will be looking to get back to winning ways. While all the stats and records are in the favour of Rajasthan, it will be interesting to see how KKR will face the odds. Here is a detailed pre-match report of the 30th match of IPL 2022, RR vs KKR.
RR probable XI
Everything looked good for the Royals until the NZ pacer Trent Boult had a niggle and missed out on the last match against Gujarat Titans. His absence was clearly felt as RR bowlers were taken for a ride by Hardik Pandya, David Miller, and Abhinav Manohar. The fact that RR has only one 50+ opening partnership so far this season speaks volumes about their struggle against the new ball. With Umesh Yadav striking with the new ball on almost every occasion this season, RR has a lot to fear alongside Pat Cummins. Ravichandran Ashwin will be crucial in setting up the left-handers of KKR, as their batsmen have evidently struggled against spinners this season. Being one of the very few teams to have both wrist-spinner and finger spinner in their team, RR has a great advantage.
Players to watch out for: Jos Buttler, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sanju Samson.
Playing XI: Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Rassie van der Dussen, Shimron Hetmyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Riyan Parag, Trent Boult, Kuldeep Sen, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Position: 5th place (played 5, won 3, lost 2, NRR +0.389)
KKR probable XI
Though Varun Chakravarthy has not been very impressive in the last couple of matches, he will be crucial in restricting the current orange cap holder Jos Buttler. Chakravarthy has picked up Buttler’s wicket twice, giving away only 12 runs in 8 balls. On the other hand, Samson has fallen victim to Umesh and Narine three times. Skipper Shreyas Iyer will be crucial in handling the danger from Chahal.
Players to watch out for: Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Pat Cummins, Umesh Yadav.
Playing XI: Aaron Finch, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Sheldon Jackson (wk), Pat Cummins, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Aman Hakim Khan, Varun Chakravarthy
Position: 6th place (played 6, won 3, lost 3, NRR +0.223)
Head-to-Head
Out of the 25 matches played between these two teams, KKR has a slight upper hand by winning 13 matches. In their last 9 clashes, KKR has won 7, leaving only 2 to RR’s name. Nevertheless, RR has a psychological advantage as KKR has never won a match at this venue.
Venue records
Out of all the venues this season, Brabourne Stadium seems to be the most batting friendly with short boundaries. Additionally, the dew factor plays a very crucial role in the second innings, giving the chasing team an advantage. So the captain winning the toss will be looking forward to batting second, which has been the trend this season. A score of 160-170 is expected from the side batting first, though it is doubtful if it will be a sufficient score to defend.
Enjoy the RR vs KKR match and stay tuned for more IPL 2022 updates!
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