Mumbai: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will be looking to avoid a three-match losing streak, when they face Rajasthan Royals (RR) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match here at the Brabourne Stadium on Monday.
Both the teams have three wins in their kitty; while Shreyas Iyer's Kolkata are placed at sixth in the standings, the Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan sit at fifth in the points table.
Both KKR and RR are coming with a loss in their last outing. Kolkata suffered a seven-wicket defeat at the hands of Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan lost to Gujarat Titans by 37 runs.
For KKR, there have not been much of positives in the batting department apart from Nitish Rana, Shreyas and Andre Russell who have been consistent but other batters have to contribute to strengthen the line-up.
Bowling wise, pacer Umesh Yadav could be a vital cog. The spin duo of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy can do wonders in the middle overs.
Rajasthan's batting line-up has Jos Buttler and Shimron Hetmyer, who have showcased a sensational effort this season.
In the bowling department, the onus would be on the purple cap holder Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin. If Trent Boult will be fit to play then he will add depth to the bowling line-up.
Both the teams have to work on their death overs bowling, as they leaked a lot of runs in their previous fixtures.
Squads:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Venkatesh Iyer, Aaron Finch, Shreyas Iyer (c), Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Sheldon Jackson (wk), Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Aman Hakim Khan, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Tim Southee, Sam Billings, Mohammad Nabi, Chamika Karunaratne, Ajinkya Rahane, Baba Indrajith, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Shivam Mavi, Pratham Singh, Abhijeet Tomar, Ashok Sharma, Ramesh Kumar, Harshit Rana