Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to bowl first against Shreyas Iyer's Kolkata Knight Riders in match 31 of the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Eden Gardens, on April 16 (Tuesday). The RR captain announced the return of Jos Buttler and Ravichandran Ashwin. However, the hosts have not made any changes in their side.
This clash is for the top spot on the points table. Currently, Rajasthan is sitting at the top of the points table with 10 points in 6 matches and Kolkata is right below them with 8 points from 5 matches. If the Knights win this match, they will have the same amount of points as the Royals but as their net run rate is much better they have the opportunity to jump over Rajasthan and get to the number 1 position.
Head-to-Head
Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals have faced each other 28 times in the history of the Indian Premier League. Out of these 28 clashes KKR have been victorious 14 times and RR have won 13 of them and one of them ended in no results.
Captains at toss
Sanju announced two changes as Jos Buttler and Ravichandran Ashwin returned to the team after missing out on the previous match against Punjab Kings.
"We would like to bowl first. Might be better to chase on this. Very much excited to be back in Eden Gardens, there's a great vibe in the stadium. Jos and Ash are available for this game, so they are coming back," said Samson after winning the toss.
"Would have loved to bowl as well based on the last game, on how the ball moved around. Whenever he (Narine) comes in, he is hard to read and he's got that poker face all throughout, we want him to perform him the way he has. We are playing the same team," said KKR captain Iyer.
KKR vs RR Playing XIs
Kolkata Knight Riders: Philip Salt(w), Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Shreyas Iyer(c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Varun Chakaravarthy, Harshit Rana
Impact Subs: Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Manish Pandey, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Vaibhav Arora
Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson(w/c), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Sen, Yuzvendra Chahal
Impact Subs: Jos Buttler, Kohler-Cadmore, Shubham Dubey, Navdeep Saini, Nandre Burger
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