Their confidence severely dented after two comprehensive defeats, last edition's runners-up side Kolkata Knight Riders will be looking to get their inconsistent campaign back on track when they face Rajasthan Royals in the IPL match at the Brabourne Stadium, in Mumbai, on Monday.
KKR were beaten by Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad by 44 runs and seven wickets respectively in their last two matches. They earlier lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore.
With three wins and three defeats, they are at the mid-table while the Royals won three matches and lost two.
KKR had an impressive start to the league, scoring three wins from four matches, but the back-to-back losses saw them drop below the top four.
To regain that place they have to pull themselves up in both batting and bowling.
None of the batters, save Andre Russell, has been consistent while the likes of spinner Varun Chakravarthy and pacer Pat Cummins have dished out average performances.
Russell is the top-scorer for KKR with 179 runs from six matches and has also contributed with five wickets.
Captain Shreyas lyer hasn’t been in the best of form, with just one half-century to his name for a total of 151 runs in six matches. Nitesh Rana and Venkatesh Iyer have lacked consistency, while Sam Billings is struggling to get runs.
In the bowling department, none, except pacer Umesh Yadav (10 wickets from 6 matches), has been up to expectations.
Chakravarthy, KKR's highest wicket-taker last season, is struggling big time with just four wickets from six matches.
His senior spin colleague Sunil Narine is also in the same boat, having taken just four wickets.
Australia Test captain Cummins, who joined late due to national commitments, also needs to step up and do better than his current figures of three wickets from as many matches.
The Royals, on the other hand, will start as favourites in Monday's match with Jos Buttler, the tournament's highest run-getter, and Yuzvendra Chahal, the highest wicket-taker, in their ranks.
Chahal is in top form, with 12 wickets from five matches, with a fine economy of 6.80. He will fancy adding more scalps to his name, especially against a struggling KKR batting unit.
Veteran New Zealand pacer Trent Boult (7 wickets from 4 matches) is the other Royals bowler who is doing well.
But senior India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is terribly out of form. He picked up just one wicket from five matches while conceding 143 runs. It remains to be seen how long the team management will persist with him.
The Royals, however, have not fired as a batting unit, with the likes of captain Sanju Samson (117 from 5 matches) and the hugely talented Devdutt Padikkal (114 from 5 matches) failing to click.
Their batting has revolved mainly around Buttler, who has set the IPL on fire with 272 runs from five matches, including one hundred and two fifties.
Shimron Hetmyer is the only other Royals batter who has done well so far, with 197 runs from five matches, including a half-century.
Teams (from):
Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (captain/wicketkeeper), Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shimron Hetmyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Prasidh Krishna, Riyan Parag, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Devdutt Padikkal, Navdeep Saini, Karun Nair, Rassie van der Dussen, James Neesham, Anunay Singh, Daryl Mitchell, Dhruv Jurel, Shubham Garhwal, Kuldip Yadav, Kuldeep Sen, Obed McCoy, Tejas Baroka, KC Cariappa.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Aaron Finch, Abhijeet Tomar, Ajinkya Rahane, Baba Indrajith, Nitish Rana, Pratham Singh, Rinku Singh, Ashok Sharma, Pat Cummins, Rasikh Dar, Shivam Mavi, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Aman Khan, Andre Russell, Anukul Roy, Chamika Karunaratne, Mohammed Nabi, Ramesh Kumar, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Sam Billings, Sheldon Jackson.
Match starts: 7:30 PM.
