Defeats in their last two games against Mumbai Indians have left Kolkata Knight Riders out of the top four all of a sudden, leaving Dinesh Karthik’s team with the task of returning to a position from where they can qualify for the Playoffs this season. Although they have had decent success after a change in leadership, KKR have been indifferent this season, with many of their big guns not being able to perform to their full potential.
In both their previous games, KKR found themselves to be chasing big totals, and failed to come up with the goods on both occasions. The opening partnership between Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn was broken in Mumbai, but in the return leg, they were brought back together, albeit with little success as KKR perished by a huge margin of runs.
The lack of form from some of their top players this season has been glaring, with Robin Uthappa, holding down the No. 3 spot, only scoring one half-century 11 matches. India Under-19 player Shubman Gill earned himself a promotion in the batting order in Mumbai, got out early, and was left out of the return leg in Kolkata. Dinesh Karthik and Andre Russell have suddenly lost form after beginning the tournament on a strong note, unable to finish off games for their team. Nitish Rana has been one of the lone bright spots for the franchise with the bat, and will be expected to hold the innings together against KXIP.
The bowling has disappointed too, with their spinners not being able to restrict their opposition in the middle overs. Piyush Chawla has taken wickets but has been expensive, Narine has been threatening but teams have often chosen to play him out safely, while their fast bowlers have been taken apart. Mitchell Johnson and Tom Curran have both been expensive with little success, while Shivam Mavi’s replacement in the previous game, Prasidh Krishna, was also taken apart. KKR will have to call on their experienced players to put their hands up and be counted for their team if they are to make the Playoffs as teams begin a mad scramble to finish in the top four of the competition.
KXIP, on the other hand, have continued their strong run in the tournament although they lost their previous fixture to Rajasthan Royals. Their bowling, led by captain R Ashwin, has been effective with a spin-heavy attack like KKR, which will make this contest a battle of the spinners. Mujeeb Ur Rahman has been the find of the tournament, having collected 14 wickets from 10 matches as KXIP find themselves at the third spot of the competition.
The success of KL Rahul has been synonymous with KXIP’s story in IPL 2018, with the opening batsman leading the run charts in IPL 2018. Chris Gayle has been dismissed early in the last couple of fixtures, and he will be looking to tear into an underwhelming KKR bowling attack on Saturday. KXIP’s opening batsmen and top order have made up for the lack of form from the middle order, particularly the struggling Yuvraj Singh who has been dropped, but his replacement Manoj Tiwary hasn’t made a notable contribution either.
Head To Head :
KKR 14 – 8 KXIP.
The two teams will play each other for the first time in Indore.
Weather and Pitch :
Indore is battling a heat wave at the moment with maximum temperature soaring up to 44 degree Celsius. With this being an evening game and there being no real breeze to lessen the harsh impact of the sun, it will not be a surprise if it turns out to be an average scoring game.
Probable XI:
KKR : Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (c / wk), Andre Russell, Mitchell Johnson, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna
KXIP : Chris Gayle, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Yuvraj Singh / Akshdeep Nath, Manoj Tiwary, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin (c), Andrew Tye, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb Rehman.
Both the teams will be battling for the playoffs. It would be an interesting match. Viewers will be amazed watching the match.
“Ankit Vaishnav”
