IPL 2024, KKR vs. RR Preview: Knight Riders want to take the top place, Royals prepare for the Narine spin treat

When the top-of-the-table Rajasthan Royals play the Kolkata Knight Riders in an IPL match on Tuesday, they will face the formidable task of unlocking Sunil Narine’s mystique at Eden Gardens.

One month away from turning 36, Narine was essential to KKR’s two victories in 2012 and 2014 under former captain Gautam Gambhir.

Narine has been a major danger to opposing hitters at Eden Gardens ever since he joined the team in 2012, thanks to his deft bowling.

Following their reunion with Gambhir, who rejoined the club as their coach, Narine had an outstanding all-around performance, rekindling their championship chances. A victory against RR will place them atop the 10-team rankings ahead of the halfway point of the season.

Even though his 1/19 against the Sunrisers Hyderabad and 1/17 against the Lucknow Super Giants did not get much notice, the eight overs in which he did not let up a single boundary proved to be crucial for KKR in the end.

While Phil Salt may have won player of the match in their convincing eight-wicket victory against LSG on Sunday, Narine was the one who suffocated LSG in the middle overs to restrict them to a disappointing 161 for 7.

On Tuesday, the Narine Challenge will face players like Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, and Shimron Hetmyer, who have all hit at a pace of more than 155 this season.

Jos Buttler’s fitness to participate in the starting lineup after missing their most recent match against the Punjab Kings is still up in the air.

Narine, who averages 33+ this season and has a strike rate of 183.51, has a Rashid Khan-like aura at KKR because of his ability to express himself at the top.

Their purchase of an IPL record by Mitchell Starc, who finished his innings against LSG with 3/28, silenced the critics and got back to his best. He took two wickets in the last over.

Under such circumstances, the match at the top of the table may come down to KKR’s bowling vs. RR’s batting.

The only possible weakness for KKR might be the subpar batting performance of captain Shreyas Iyer.

Shreyas seemed uneasy against both pacers and spinners, even though he finished their 162-run chase against LSG undefeated at run-a-ball 38. If RR is able to make early inroads, KKR’s batsmen can be exposed.

Since their Indian hitters haven’t been challenged much this season, KKR’s batting has mostly relied on Salt-Narine’s pyrotechnics at the top and Andre Russell’s blitz at the end.

With 63 runs from four innings, Rinku Singh has had a quiet season. He has also not had many opportunities since team vice captain Nitish Rana is out due to injury.

Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Keshav Maharaj constitute RR’s strong bowling team, but it’s unclear whether Ravichandran Ashwin will be able to play.

Teams (from): Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain, and Mujeeb Ur Rahman are the Kolkata Knight Riders squads.

Sanju Samson (captain), Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yezvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan, Rovman Powell, Shubham Dubey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Abid Mushtaq, Nandre Burger, Tanush Kotian, and Keshav Maharaj are the Rajasthan Royals.