Two weeks into IPL 2021, and the biggest teams on paper are struggling to get their combinations and permutations in order. Sanju Samson's RR have so far failed to exploit the conditions at Wankhede. Rajasthan almost crossed the line in their tournament opener, beat Delhi Capitals in their second, before being outplayed in their next two. The biggest concern for Jaipur franchise is the out of form Jos Buttler. The Englishman has failed to create the impact he's known for as the Royals have continued to lose wickets in the powerplay, continuing a trend from last season. Skipper Samson since his 119 in the first game, has had scores of 4, 1 and 21. For Rajasthan, bowling is also a big concern as their big buy Chris Morris and Mustafizur Rahman have struggled to check runs.
For KKR, after a positive start, they have just about gone downhill with three straight losses. Shubman Gill has not been able to get off to the fiery start in the Indian Premier League 2021 season as many expected him to, after his heroics in Australia. The Kolkata Knight Riders opener has scored just 69 runs in 4 games, with figures of 15, 33, 21, and 0. It would not be a bad ploy for Eoin Morgan to promote Andre Russell up in the order, while Pat Cummins provides late blitz. KKR have beaten RR 12 times out of 22 games they have gone up against each other. The two-game lead by KKR was gained after the last season where they won both of their games against RR. Rajasthan Royals lost both their games against Kolkata Knight Riders last year. They were unable to chase down 175 and 192 in the two games. Facing bottom-placed Rajasthan Royals, who have been the most inconsistent team so far in the season, KKR will be desperate for a turnaround.
Probable XI: Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal/Manan Vohra, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Shivam Dube, David Miller, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Shreyas Gopal, Chetan Sakariya, Mustafizur Rahman
Probable XI: Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Kamlesh Nagarkoti/Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Prasidh Krishna
