Royals look to carry momentum
It’ll be a battle about which team carries forward the winning momentum as Rajasthan Royals clash with Kolkata Knight Riders here on Wednesday.
Following a loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad in their opening fixture, the Ajinkya Rahane-led Royals have made a solid comeback to win the next two matches and find firm footing.
The hosts will play their second home game of the season at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium where last time the Royals edged out Delhi Daredevils by 10 runs (D/L method).
One wicket the Knights will be looking to get early is Sanju Samson. With scores of 49, 37, 92 not out, the 23-year-old is currently the highest run-scorer of IPL 2018. He was his team’s top-scorer in two out of three games and has already won Man-of-the-Match awards twice.
Though they do not have a plethora of stars, Rajasthan Royals’ batting looks quite settled with skipper Rahane being consistent as an opener, even though he is yet to ‘explode’ with the bat. Coming down the order, Englishmen Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler can really accelerate when they need to.
Credit has to be given to the Royals bowlers, who despite looking vulnerable, have led their team to victories in the last two games. In a format where teams prefer to bat second, the Royals bowlers delivered when it mattered most. The Knights on the other hand have had a topsyturvy four matches so far. After impressing with a convincing win over Virat Kohli-captained Royal Challengers Bangalore in their opener, they went down in an enthralling contest to Chennai Super Kings and then surrendered to Sunrisers Hyderabad.
However, a dominant win over Delhi Daredevils on Monday has put their campaign back on the track and new skipper Dinesh Karthik will look to impress with his captaincy skills. This will be KKR’s second away game in five matches after losing narrowly to CSK in the only game that was and will be played at Chepauk, this IPL. The Royals may have Samson, but KKR’s Andre Russell is also in prime form, currently being the second highest run-getter of IPL 2018.