The 30th match of the ongoing IPL 2022 will see Rajasthan Royals (RR) taking on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on April 18, 2022, Monday. RR is ranked fifth on the IPL points table with 3 wins from 5 matches, while KKR is sixth with 3 wins in 6 matches.
RR took a good hit to their net run rate after losing to Gujarat Titans by 37 runs and have lost two out of their last three matches. Meanwhile, KKR is coming off two back-to-back losses and needs a win to stay in contention for playoffs and not fall back in the pack.
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Keeping this in mind, here is the Team COC predicted playing XIs for the RR vs KKR IPL 2022 match.
RAJASTHAN ROYALS
Rajasthan Royals were once ruling the roost at the top of the IPL 2022 points table, and will now be looking to get back to the winning ways once again.
RR has some problems with their playing XI, mainly one of their openers is not getting any runs. Both Devdutt Padikkal and Yashasvi Jaiswal have failed to get going, while Jos Buttler does the dirty work at the other end.
Sanju Samson and Shimron Hetmyer have then carried the middle order, while Riyan Parag hasn’t got many chances in the middle, and Rassie van der Dussen has played just two matches thus far. Another issue for them is that they don’t have a designated finisher despite Parag being earmarked for the job.
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Jimmy Neesham has been included in the side in place of Trent Boult who has a niggle and might get to keep his place if his Kiwi teammate hasn’t gotten better. The spin twins of Yuzvendra Chahal and R Ashwin have done exceedingly well in both getting wickets and keeping runs down.
Prasidh Krishna and Kuldeep Sen have been very impressive, as Sen has shown some good speed with the ball. They will however need to find someone to bowl in death overs as they have averaged one wicket per innings in this phase and the economy rate has been 12.78.
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS
KKR is also facing similar problems as their opening combination also didn’t work much despite Ajinkya Rahane given a long run. Venkatesh Iyer has blown hot or cold thus far, while Aaron Finch didn’t do much on his KKR debut.
The middle order of Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer, and Andre Russell has been doing the majority of run-scoring for KKR, while they have been trying out both Sam Billings and Sheldon Jackson as wicketkeepers as per playing combination needs.
Billings had missed the last match due to an illness, but whether KKR bench Finch after just one match for the Englishman, remains to be seen.
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Like RR, KKR also boasts of two very good spinners in Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine, especially the West Indian, who has an economy of 5.00 in this season. Umesh Yadav has picked wickets upfront and KKR has looked good and when he hasn’t, KKR has struggled badly.
However, the big problem for them has been death bowling as Pat Cummins has been expensive, with his economy reading 11.83 and Aman Khan is yet to make an impression.
RR COC Predicted Playing XI:
Devdutt Padikkal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (C), Rassie van der Dussen, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Jimmy Neesham, R Ashwin, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Sen
KKR COC Predicted Playing XI:
Aaron Finch, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (C), Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Sheldon Jackson (WK), Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Umesh Yadav, Aman Khan, Varun Chakravarthy
