| Welcome to Sportstar‘s LIVE coverage of the Indian Premier League 2020 match between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders. This is Santadeep Dey bringing you all the action as it unfurls at the Dubai International Stadium. |
Stay tuned! The toss for match 12 is scheduled to take place at 7pm IST today. The match will start at 7:30pm.
– Who will the coin flip favour: Steve Smith or Dinesh Karthik? Which side will bat first? Who will feature in KKR/RR’s Playing XI? Get all your questions answered in about 10 minutes from now!
– The team buses are in! Which side are you cheering for tonight?
MATCH PREVIEW
The Sharjah Cricket Stadium looked too small and the bowling of Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab too easy for the batsmen of Rajasthan Royals. On Wednesday, it will be interesting to find out if the bigger boundaries at Dubai or the bowlers from Kolkata Knight Riders could have any impact on them.
The Royals is indeed on a roll, having gotten off to a spectacular start. It has won both of its matches, chasing in excess of 200. And Sunday’s win against Punjab was historic, being the highest run-chase in IPL’s history.
The Riders, though, is unlikely to be intimidated. It too is coming into its third game after winning its last. And its batting too boasts some of the cleanest strikers of the ball in the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoKE60Y9FI4
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It promises to be an interesting match and would be particularly interesting to see what Steve Smith does after winning the toss. All the five games – including the two that went to the Super Over – played here saw the team batting first win.
The Royals’ confidence in chasing big totals is not misplaced. When a team has Jos Buttler’s explosive power and Smith’s brisk yet assured style of pushing the score at the top of the order, followed by Sanju Samson’s brilliance and form, no total looks beyond reach. If it seems so at times, there are the likes of the newly unearthed danger man Rahul Tewatia, Robin Uthappa and Jofra Archer.
Archer also spearheads the Royals bowling, which has room to improve. Even playing six bowlers in the last game didn’t stop the flow of runs off the bats of Mayank Agarwal and K.L. Rahul. The team will be desperately want leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal to recapture the sparkling form he showed last year.
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He will be up against a quality batting line-up featuring Shubman Gill, fresh from his match-winning 70 not out (62b) against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Eoin Morgan, captain Dinesh Karthik and one of the most feared batsman in the format, Andre Russell.
The Riders’ bowlers would not mind a repeat of its show against Hyderabad, when it restricted the side to 142. Pat Cummins, Varun Chakravarthy, however, may find the in-form Royals batsmen a little harder to contain.
(written by P.K. Ajith Kumar)
TOP FIVE PLAYERS THAT YOU MUST HAVE IN YOUR FANTASY XI
1. Sanju Samson (RR) – 81 points
2. Steve Smith (RR) – 48.5 points
3. Jofra Archer (RR) – 46.5 points
4. Rahul Tewatia (RR) – 44.5 points
5. Pat Cummins (KKR) – 39 points
#STATATTACK
- Highest run-getter: KL Rahul (222)
- Highest wicket-taker: Kagiso Rabada and Mohammad Shami (7)
- Highest individual score: KL Rahul (132*)
- Best bowling figures: Rashid Khan (3/14)
- Best economy: Washington Sundar (4.57)
- Most fours: KL Rahul (23)
- Most sixes: Sanju Samson (16)
- Fastest ball: Anrich Nortje (148.92 kmph)
- Fastest fifty: Sanju Samson (19 balls)
- Fastest century: Mayank Agarwal (45 balls)
PREDICTED XI
KKR Probable XI: Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (c/wk), Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Shivam Mavi, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Kamlesh Nagarkoti
RR Probable XI: Steven Smith (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Sanju Samson, Robin Uthappa, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Tom Curran, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Ankit Rajpoot, Jaydev Unadkat
Overall head-to-head
The two teams have faced each other 20 times in the IPL so far, and their head-to-head win/loss record is tied 10-10.
Last season, both the sides won the away game against each other. Kolkata thumped Rajasthan by eight wickets with 37 balls to spare in Jaipur, and the Royals edged past the Knight Riders by three wickets with four balls remaining at the Eden Gardens.
| SQUADS
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (c), Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Shivam Mavi, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Sandeep Warrier, Rahul Tripathi, Siddhesh Lad, Nikhil Naik, Chris Green, Prasidh Krishna, Lockie Ferguson, Rinku Singh, Ali Khan, Tom Banton, Manimaran SiddharthRajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler, Steven Smith (c), Sanju Samson, Rahul Tewatia, Robin Uthappa, Jofra Archer, Riyan Parag, Tom Curran, Shreyas Gopal, Ankit Rajpoot, Jaydev Unadkat, Varun Aaron, David Miller, Aniruddha Joshi, Manan Vohra, Andrew Tye, Shashank Singh, Mahipal Lomror, Oshane Thomas, Mayank Markande, Anuj Rawat, Kartik Tyagi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Akash Singh |
IPL 2020 Points Table
| TEAMS | P | W | L | Points | NRR |
| Rajasthan Royals | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | +0.615 |
| Delhi Capitals | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | +0.483 |
| Royal Challengers Bangalore | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | -1.450 |
| Kings XI Punjab | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | +1.498 |
| Mumbai Indians | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | +0.654 |
| Sunrisers Hyderabad | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | -0.228 |
| Kolkata Knight Riders | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -0.767 |
| Chennai Super Kings | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | -0.840 |
WHERE TO WATCH IPL 2020 – RAJASTHAN ROYALS VS KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS LIVE?
The Indian Premier League match Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders will be broadcast live on the Star Sports Network. Live streaming will also be available on the Hotstar app or website exclusively for VIP and Premium users. The live commentary of the game is also available on sportstar.thehindu.com
