Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals Prediction

KKR Team News

Kolkata Knight Riders made a few surprising changes in their line-up for the previous game against Sunrisers Hyderabad; they dropped Robin Uthappa, Kuldeep Yadav and Prasidh Krishna and brought in Rinku Singh, KC Cariappa and Yarra Prithviraj as the respective replacements. While Rinku Singh impressed with the bat and is likely to be retained along with Yarra Prithviraj, KC Cariappa returned expensive figures which means Kuldeep Yadav will probably be brought back. The hosts could also bring in Carlos Brathwaite in place of Harry Gurney who has not made much of an impact. There is plenty of media pressure on the Knight Riders to promote Andre Russell up the order and the West Indian all-rounder could be slotted at number four.

KKR Key Players

Chris Lynn has found form at the right time for the Kolkata Knight Riders and he, apart from Andre Russell, is their key man with the bat. Lynn's scores in his last three innings read 82, 1 and 51 and the Australian opener had even hit a fifty in the reverse encounter. Russell is likely to be promoted up the order this time and the Knight Riders should find themselves in a position of dominance if he gets going. Dinesh Karthik is the most reliable batsman in this middle-order and the team will want him to get back amongst the runs. Sunil Narine is another vital cog in this KKR line-up. The West Indian all-rounder has taken six wickets at an economy of 7.62 and can also provide a brisk start with the bat in the powerplay. Kuldeep Yadav has not been at his best and the hosts will need their go-to spinner to find his rhythm back. Carlos Brathwaite could be given an opportunity here. His inclusion will add some more firepower to the lower order and boost the team’s pace attack as well.

KKR Recent Form

Kolkata Knight Riders, after slipping to their fifth successive loss in the tournament, now find themselves sixth on the IPL 2019 points table with four wins and six defeats from ten matches. They have played five matches at home this season and have lost the most recently played three. Although their batting has been very impressive this year, their bowling has not been up to the mark in the past few matches and that has been the main reason for their recent downslide.