Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals

𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇 : Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals 𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄 : May 04, Sunday𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 : 15:30 PM IST𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐔𝐄 :​ Eden Gardens, Kolkata, India 𝐓𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 : Indian Premier League, 2025 Can KKR turn things around at home? Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals TV channels: The fans can watch the match live on Hotstar Live Streaming: Live streaming of the match will be available on the FAFA191 Cricket Exchange India and website. KKR vs RR Match Prediction & Analysis Kolkata Knight Riders will take on Rajasthan Royals at their home venue in search of a way back in the race to the playoffs. The hosts have been inconsistent at this venue. Their batting hasn’t been reliable this season. Most of their key batsmen have failed to deliver. Rajasthan Royals, a promising side that made it to the Finals a few seasons ago, has had a disappointing season. There were a few games that the Royals lost by a tiny margin, including one in the super over. Samson’s injury has also affected the overall team balance. With just 3 wins from 11 games, the Royals are out of the race for the playoffs. After a convincing win at home against the Titans, the Royals’ batting collapsed in the next game, in a similar run-chase. TEAMS PREVIEW Kolkata Knight Riders Preview Sunil Narine and Anukul Roy led KKR to a 14-run win against the mighty Capitals in their last outing at an away venue. The spinners were exceptional in delivering consistent breakthroughs while defending 204 runs. KKR need their top-order to step up and deliver big in this game. They’ve got a deep lineup with big hitters like Rinku Singh and Andre Russell in the lower order. However, without a good start, the finishers won’t have much to build on. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Sunil Narine open the innings for the Knight Riders. Both of them have an attacking approach to their batting. On their best day, they can make a huge impact in the power play. While the decision to replace Quinton de Kock with Gurbaz doesn’t sit well with experts and analysts, the latter isn’t a bad option for the opening position. Ajinkya Rahane holds the key to a big score. He will be crucial in striking partnerships at number 3 in this batting order. Angkrish Raghuvanshi has shown great promise this year in the middle-order, but we believe he’s better suited at the top of the order. The young gun needs more freedom to play his shots, which he would find in the opener’s role. Harshit Rana, one of the best bowlers for KKR last season, hasn’t been in good form this year. Vaibhav Arora is another key wicket-taker for the hosts. Sunil Narine will be one to watch out for, along with the experienced Andre Russell, who’s got the ability to deliver crucial breakthroughs. Rajasthan Royals Preview Rajasthan Royals were off to a losing start this season. They secured back-to-back wins soon after, but their performances were always inconsistent. RR secured a win in their 4th match, and since then, they managed to win just 1 of their 7 games. In the early stages, they looked very promising, and in the middle, there were some pretty close finishes in which they ended on the losing side. Had those 3 close encounters turned out in RR’s favor, they would have been in the top 5 by now. Samson has been out of the XI with injury, and Riyan Parag is leading the side. Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s hundred broke all records as RR clinched their 3rd win of the season. However, in a similar situation at the same ground in the very next match, the Royals lost both openers early in the run chase. A collapse from there on resulted in a 100-run loss for the Royals, and they were eventually eliminated from the race to the playoffs. Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag, and Dhruv Jurel are the key middle-order batters responsible for building partnerships and taking the score beyond par. Rana’s been struggling to find his rhythm while Parag has been quite good. Parag and Jurel will be crucial for the Royals in this game and are expected to lead the batting effort in the middle order. Shimron Hetmyer is the finisher for RR and needs to come good for the team. Jofra Archer, Fazhalhaq Farooqi, and Akash Madhwal are all quality bowlers in the pace attack for the Royals. In addition, M Theekshana will be the key spinner for the side. The lack of form and consistency from the bowlers is a major concern for RR going into this match. Weather Conditions While the weather forecast is for scattered showers in Kolkata on the match day, it is likely to be partly cloudy around the match time with a high of 32 degrees Celsius. The last game here was washed out due to rain after the first innings. We don’t expect a similar fate for this one. KKR vs RR Pitch Report It is a balanced wicket at the Eden Gardens. There has been some help for the spinners historically, and in recent years, we have also seen 200+ scores. Considering the small dimensions of the ground, it becomes easier to clear the boundaries often. The average 1st innings score in the last 5 matches here is 202 runs. Anything below 200 will not be easy to defend on this ground. Toss: To Bat Teams batting first have won 3 of the 4 matches played at this venue in Kolkata. Spinners will find help at this venue in the second innings and could put the chasing team under pressure and get the upper hand in this contest. Moreover, it’s a day match, and there won’t be any due to help the chasing team.