KKR vs RR, IPL 2023: A battle of spinners is on the cards | Cricket News – Times of India

KOLKATA: There will be little margin of error for Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals when they face each other at the Eden Gardens here on Thursday. Both sides find themselves on the same boat (10 points from 11 matches) in the IPL mid-table logjam. But if momentum has a role to play in cricket, then KKR will definitely hold an edge.
The hosts, on a resurgent path, will step on the ground with a new-found confidence after recording back-to-back victories that saw them climb up the points table.
However, in spite of all this, the real picture has not changed much for them as they still need to win their last three league matches to make the playoffs. RR
have themselves to blame only for getting in this volatile situation after suffering a hat-trick of defeats. They now have to put their best foot forward to stay alive on a points table which is changing after every game. On paper, RR have one of the best-balanced units, but somehow, they have failed to click together as a unit.

KKR, on the other hand, remain the team with the highest average in terms of wickets lost in the powerplay, but thankfully skipper Nitish Rana and Venkatesh Iyer have provided solidarity in the middle order. However, it can all whittle down to a battle of spinners on Thursday as both sides have relied heavily on their tweakers this season.

With the Eden track likely to assist spin, the KKR’s trio of Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Suyash Sharma will have its match in Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Adam Zampa and Murugan Ashwin in the rival camp.