IPL 2018 Qualifier 2: Odds stacked against Rajasthan Royals
Knight Riders have outplayed Rajasthan both in the home and away games this season.
Kolkata Knight Riders are set to host Rajasthan Royals at Eden Gardens in the Eliminator of IPL 2018 season on Wednesday.
KKR should overpower Rajasthan again, given that they beat them both times during the league stage. When they met last week, KKR bowled out RR for 142 in 19 overs, and without Buttler the Rajasthan batting lacks oomph.
Kolkata Knight Riders
KKR have been the best team unit throughout the tournament, with every player playing a contribution in the side. Skipper Dinesh Karthik has been in brilliant form, and he will hope he can continue his performance against Rajasthan Royals.
KKR’s batting has been plain brilliant in the past couple of games. Sunil Narine has been coming up with some big shots early in the innings. Chris Lynn has been doing pretty good with the bat too lately. Hence, KKR are bound to get off to a good start.
The middle-order has the likes of Robin Uthappa and Nitish Rana who can pile up runs during the middle overs. Not to forget skipper Dinesh Karthik who can always deliver with the bat.
Then, of course, there is the mighty Andre Russell who could give the RR bowlers their worst nightmares.
Rajasthan Royals
Rajasthan Royals are somewhat fortunate to be in the play-offs, and without the departed England wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler, are the weakest of the four teams. They need Sanju Samson, Rahul Tripathi, Ish Sodhi and Shreyas Gopal to have super days to take them beyond Wednesday.
With some brilliant performances from Jos Buttler, who scored five fifties in a row, RR picked up a string of victories in the latter half of the tournament. But now, entering into the playoffs, Buttler and Ben Stokes will no longer be a part of the squad, as they have returned to England for the Test series against Pakistan.
RR defeated RCB convincingly to enter the playoffs, without Buttler and Stokes, which will boost their confidence and proved that they can perform without the two players in the team. RR skipper Ajinkya Rahane will hope his side can pull off a similar performance once again in the do-or-die game against KKR and save themselves from elimination.
Shreyas Gopal is one bowler that KKR have to be wary of but the batting has enough firepower to score past 170.
Who Will Win?
The departure of Jos Buttler will have a significant impact on RR. Even though they have the likes of Rahane, Samson, Klaasen and Gowtham, these batsmen are good but they seem to lack the killer instinct that the likes of Lynn, Narine and Russell.
With odds stacked against them, former champions Rajasthan Royals will look to go full throttle when they lock horns with two-time winners and overwhelming favourites Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL Eliminator
Additionally, KKR are playing at their home ground which gives them a little more advantage. To sum it all up, Rajasthan Royals’ journey in IPL 2018 will come to an end today and the Knight Riders will go through to Qualifier-2 to face Sunrisers Hyderabad.
