All Eyes are on Russell as KKR Tries to Keep Winning

It has been almost three weeks since Rinku Singh’s remarkable attack against Gujarat Titans that helped Kolkata Knight Riders achieve an outstanding victory at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

However, the two teams have had contrasting campaigns since then. The defending champions have won three matches after losing to KKR and are currently positioned in the top half of the points table with 10 points.

Meanwhile, the Knight Riders initially suffered four losses before gaining momentum with a win against Royal Challengers Bangalore, yet they are still fourth from the bottom with only six points.

They need to maintain their momentum to secure a position in the top four.

KKR and GT currently lead the charts for most wickets among wrist spinners in this IPL, and the upcoming match at the Eden Gardens will be a battle of skill between the spinners of both teams.

However, GT’s pacers have also performed well in taking away the opposition wickets, with the Indian duo of Mohammed Shami and Mohit Sharma securing 16 wickets between them.

Alzarri Joseph has also been effective, but Noor Ahmad’s recent success has kept the West Indian pacer out of action in the last few games.

In contrast, KKR’s overseas duo of Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson proved to be very expensive in the opportunities they received, prompting the Knight Riders to explore other pace options.

With Umesh Yadav struggling to make an impact and Shardul Thakur recovering from an injury, KKR have faced a severe shortage of pacers, with only Andre Russell providing them some respite.

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इंडिया नॅशनल क्रिकेट टीम

On the other hand, Varun Chakaravarthy and Suyash Sharma, with 22 wickets between them, have carried most of the bowling workload and were instrumental in some of their victories, including the one against RCB.

The addition of Jason Roy has given a much-needed boost to Kolkata Knight Riders’ batting department, as the England batter recently scored a brisk half-century against RCB.

Despite having used six different opening combinations so far, Roy’s 83-run partnership with N Jagadeesan in the previous game – KKR’s only half-century opening stand in the IPL 2023 thus far – may have finally pointed the team management to the right choice at the top of the order.

Although Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, and Rinku have been contributing, KKR will hope for some runs from Andre Russell’s bat.

As for the Gujarat Titans, Shubman Gill leads their batting chart, while the rest of the batters have also performed well in what has been a collective effort so far.

However, compared to KKR’s batters, GT have slightly lower strike rates, and they’ll be hoping that the 2023 trends at the Eden Gardens work in their favour and provide them with a much-needed boost.

The match will take place on Saturday, April 29 at 15:30 IST at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The venue has seen four 200-plus totals scored in only six innings so far, with an average first innings total of 222.

The team batting first has won all three matches played in the evening, and it remains to be seen if the conditions will differ for the afternoon match.

Team updates:

Kolkata Knight Riders

Shardul Thakur bowled an extended spell and also batted during practice before the game in Bengaluru, but he did not play as he was still recovering from a niggle.

However, Cricbuzz has learned that he is “ready and available now” and is likely to replace Vaibhav Arora unless KKR chooses to leave out Umesh Yadav, who has only taken one wicket and has an economy rate close to 10.