KEY PLAYER CLASHES

CHRIS LYNN vs SHREYAS GOPAL

Not many teams use two leggies but RR could, given Shreyas Gopal’s (in pic) run of four wickets against RCB and Ish Sodhi’s been an economic addition with a googly that right-handers have struggled to pick. Lynn has anchored KKR’s batting and has got three half-centuries.

JOFRA ARCHER vs ANDRE RUSSELL

The big men from the Caribbean could provide an interesting sub-plot to the match. Russell is known to struggle against the short ball and that could make Archer difficult to put away. Russell too is a crafty bowler and should the roles be reversed, it could make for interesting times.

KULDEEP YADAV vs AJINKYA RAHANE

India mates they may be but it was Rahane’s attempted reverse sweep off Yadav that gave the Chinaman bowler his confidence back and triggered Royals’ downfall. Rahane has struggled in this IPL but is too good a player to not be able to come back.

RAHUL TRIPATHI vs SUNIL NARINE

The batsman comes into the Eliminator having made 80 in the last game but he struggled against Shivam Mavi here. Narine, who at 121 has the most number of dot balls from either team, is usually used in the Power Play and that could lead to an interesting contest.

DINESH KARTHIK vs JAYDEV UNADKAT

Karthik has got useful runs at a brisk pace at the back-end. Unadkat has struggled to justify his ~11.5 crore price tag but being a former KKR player, he would know the conditions better and if he can stifle Karthik’s busy batting, it could hand RR a significant advantage.