New Delhi: Hello and welcome to Zeenews.com. With hosts RR (Rajasthan) taking on KKR (Kolkata) at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur, we will be providing regular updates from Wednesday's IPL fixture. Click here for scores. KKR are currently second on the table with 2 wins and 2 losses from 4 matches. RR have played a game less but have two wins to their name. It's their weak run-rate due to which they are at the fifth spot. Both KKR and RR have defended their totals successfully in their respective last games. RR will have huge hopes from Sanju Samson and Andre Russell will have to carry KKR on his shoulders. The bowling sides have been balanced and have shown they could defend decent totals.
Toss update: KKR have won the toss and have put hosts RR into bat. Both captains have gone in with unchanged sides.
Rajasthan have turned it around with back-to-back wins after Hyderabad thrashed them in their opener. They pipped Delhi by 19 runs in a rain-hit encounter and then traveled away to post a convincing 19-run victory over star-studded RCB. The undisputed star of the game was Sanju Samson who hit a blistering a 45-ball 92 and Royals would expect him to fire again.
They were able to iron out few of their flaws. RR batting clicked with Samson leading the charge and skipper Ajinkya Rahane too making a useful contribution. Their bowling too could sustain the pressure of onslaught by big hitters like Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.
They are on their home turf where they have seldom lost matches but they would still be wary of KKR who outplayed Delhi rather comfortably last night for their second win in four games.
With Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine at the top and big hitters like Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana and Andre Russell in the middle, KKR have enough fire power and depth. Their bowling too has the right balance with the deceptive Narine, the current purple cap holder in the tournament. Wily old horse Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav are capable of weaving a web around any batting side.
Pacer Shivam Mavi, who rose to stardom during the recent U-19 World Cup, and Russell provide the medium pace variety to KKR. However, the tight schedule of the tournament has left KKR so drained that they have preferred to rest today instead of holding a practice session.
The pink city, after a two and half hour rain interruption in the previous match, is under a dry and hot spell. The wicket here is a sporting one but a little bit of dryness would help the KKR spin department.
