Struggling Rajasthan and Kolkata face off in crucial clash
MUMBAI: Beleaguered Rajasthan Royals (RR), who are stuck at the botom of the points table, will face Kolkata Knight Riders in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday night.
While RR have managed just one win in four matches and have the worst net run rate among all teams, their opponents KKR too have been finding the going tough. They also have one win in four games but are ahead of both RR and Punjab Kings on net run rate.
KKR’S net run rate could, however, have been poorer had their lower order not clicked in the last match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
The bating performance of Andre Russell and Pat Cummins would have given KKR a lot of confidence ahead of their match against RR.
Cummins on Thursday had said that the fightback against CSK, that saw KKR recover from 31/5 to reach 202 i.e. 18 runs short of CSK total, has given the team the belief that they can come back from any position.
If KKR’S top-order bating clicks as well, then RR bowling will find it really difficult.
The Sanju Samson-led side is coming off a very poor outing against RCB on Thursday night. Although RR managed to put up a strong 177-run total, the performance of the bowlers was insipid as they couldn’t pick a single wicket allowing Devdut Padikkal and Virat Kohli to share an unbeaten 181-run partnership and win the match by 10 wickets.
RR are missing key England players, all-rounder Ben Stokes and pace bowler Jofra Archer who both have returned home due to injury.
In their absence, the onus has been on Chris Morris and Mustafizur Rahman to perform.
Prior to the last game, bating all-rounder Liam
Livingstone also let the RR camp and departed for England citing bubble fatigue. The only good thing for RR in Thursday’s 10-wicket loss to RR was the runs uncapped Indian batsmen scored.
RR and England fast bowler Jofra Archer will not travel to India for the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL) season, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed on Friday.
Archer, 26, had earlier been ruled out of the early matches of the IPL due to an elbow injury. The ECB said in a statement on Friday that he has returned to bowling “with higher intensity” this week and it will assess his medical progress along with his county side Sussex.
“Archer will now step up his training regime starting next week and will be in full training with Sussex. It is expected that he will return to cricket in the next fortnight if he can continue to bowl and prepare pain-free. The ECB will confirm which matches he is expected to play in due course,” it said.