Mumbai: Their confidence
severely dented after two comprehensive defeats on the trot, last edition's
runner-up side Kolkata Knight Riders would seek to get their inconsistent
campaign back on track when they face Rajasthan Royals in an IPL match here on
Monday.
KKR were beaten by Delhi
Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad by 44 runs and seven wickets respectively in
their last two matches. They had earlier lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore.
With three wins and three
losses, KKR are at the mid-table while the Royals have won three matches and
lost two games till now.
KKR had an impressive start to
the league with three wins from four matches but the back-to-back losses had
taken them down below the top-4 and they would look to regain that slot.
But to do that they will have
to pull themselves up in both batting and bowling. None of the batters, except
for Andre Russell, has been consistent so far while the likes of spinner Varun
Chakravarthy and pacer Pat Cummins have dished out average performances.
Russell is the current
top-scorer for KKR with 179 runs from six matches and has also contributed with
five wickets with the ball.
Captain Shreyas lyer has not
been in the best of form with just one half-century in his name for a total of
151 runs in six matches, Nitesh Rana and Venkatesh Iyer have been lacking in
consistency, while Sam Billings is struggling to get runs.
In the bowling department,
none, except pacer Umesh Yadav (10 wickets from 6 matches) has been up to
expectations.
Chakravarthy, KKR's highest
wicket-taker last season, has been struggling big time with just four wickets
from six matches.
Chakravarthy's senior spin
colleague Sunil Narine is also in the same boat with just four wickets.
Australia Test captain
Cummins, who joined late due to national commitment, also need to step up and
do better than his current figures of three wickets from as many matches.
The Royals, on the other hand,
will start as favourites in Monday's match with the tournament's highest
run-getter and wicket-taker in their ranks in Jos Buttler and Yuzvendra Chahal.
Chahal has been in top form
with 12 wickets from five matches, also with a fine economy of 6.80 and he
would fancy to add more scalps to his name, especially against a struggling KKR
batting unit.
Veteran New Zealand pacer
Trent Boult (7 wickets from 4 matches) is the other Royals bowler who has been
doing well.
But senior India spinner
Ravichandran Ashwin is terribly out of form. He picked up just one wicket from
five matches while conceding 143 runs and it remains to be seen how long the
team management will persist with him.
The Royals, however, have not
fired as a batting unit with the likes of captain Sanju Samson (117 from 5
matches) and the hugely talented Devdutt Padikkal (114 from 5 matches) failing
to click so far.
Their batting has revolved
mainly around Buttler, who has set the IPL on fire with 272 runs from five
matches with one hundred and two fifties.
Shimron Hetmyer has been the only other Royals batter who has done well so far with 197 runs from five matches with the help of one half-century. (PTI)
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