The 18th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 will be played between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday. Both the teams have witnessed a horrifying run in the season so far, winning just one of their four outings. KKR has lost their last three games, while their middle-order has impressed in the last game, e likes of Shubman Gill and Eoin Morgan have had disappointing outings n IPL 2021.
KKR’s bowling attack has also failed to deliver, with them conceding more than 200 runs in their last two games. They will need to come up with better performance on Saturday. Meanwhile, RR has their own concerns, with big guns Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer suffering injuries, RR never managed to fill the void created by them. Captain Sanju Samson has also blown hot and cold, with Jos Buttler not managing to get his form back.
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RR’s bowling attack has impressed in patches, with Kartik Tyagi’s absence also being felt to an extent. However, with the IPL 2021 points table slowly taking shape, the Royals would like to win their last game in Mumbai on Saturday. Although both teams have won just one game apiece in IPL 2021, KKR seems to be a better team on paper, but RR can’t be taken lightly, especially as their lower-middle order is chipping in with valuable runs.
Rajasthan Royals (RR)
Jofra Archer will be missing the entire IPL 2021, but his replacement is yet to be named. However, as per the reports of Cricbuzz, Rassie van der Dussen will be roped in as a replacement for Ben Stokes and Liam Livingstone. RR’s patience with Manan Vohra at the top must be running out and he can be replaced by young Yashasvi Jaiswal a crack at the top instead. Chris Morris seems to have gotten the better of Russell, against whom the burly all-rounder averages only 10.67, getting dismissed three times in 20 balls.
Probable XI: Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal/Manan Vohra, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Shivam Dube, David Miller, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Shreyas Gopal, Chetan Sakariya, Mustafizur Rahman
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
Sunil Narine impressed in his return to the XI in his first game, although he came in to bat in the middle order. He’s accounted for the RR skipper thrice, giving away just 39 runs in 45 balls. Shivam Mavi can also be expected to come into the mix. If match-ups are anything to go by, Mavi could come in for Nagarkoti who went for a fair number of runs in his first game.
Probable XI: Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Kamlesh Nagarkoti/Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Prasidh Krishna
Fantasy Suggestion #1:
Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler (c), Riyan Parag, Shubman Gill (vc), Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Chris Morris, Pat Cummins, Chetan Sakariya, Prasidh Krishna, and Mustafizur Rahman
Fantasy Suggestion #2:
Sanju Samson (vc), Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell (c), Chris Morris, Varun Chakravarthy, Rahul Tripathi, Prasidh Krishna, and Mustafizur Rahman
