IPL 2016, RPS vs KKR Playing 11: List of today's Probable XI for Kolkata Knight Riders
The Kolkata Knight Riders have been among the top teams in the Indian Premier League for past few years and have made a brilliant start to this season. In 4 matches that they have played so far, KKR have won 3 and look good enough to win many more. They will collide against a team which has struggled to get a move on after a brilliant debut, the Rising Pune Supergiants. The match will be played at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Sunday. While Kolkata's agenda will be centered around continuing their dominance in the VIVO IPL 2016, the Pune side will be looking to redeem themselves after losing 3 consecutive games.
Let's take a look at the likely team that the two-time IPL champions KKR may field:
Batting
The Knight Riders opening pair of skipper Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa is among the most successful ones in IPL history and the duo seems to be working its magic this time around as well. Gambhir has held the Orange Cap for quite a while this season and has currently scored 226 runs in 4 matches. His partner, Uthappa, has 134 runs at an average of 33-plus.
The only other player who has batted in all 4 matches for Kolkata is Manish Pandey, who also has 90 runs at an average of 45 with a top score of 52. The rest of the batting line-up has been largely untested and it may be a tough situation for the team if the top two fail on the same day.
KKR will be looking to give the other batsmen a hit in the match against Pune so that they are prepared for bigger challenges further in the tournament. And with Pandey’s unavailability, it looks as though they might have to bring in someone to replace him and that is likely to be the impressive Saurashtra keeper batsman Sheldon Jackson.
All-rounders
The KKR side boasts of some of the IPL's finest all-rounders in the likes of Andre Russell, Shakib Al Hasan and Yusuf Pathan. While all three of them look to be in decent form, they haven't exactly set the 9th edition of the IPL on fire with their performances.
While Russell has played one good knock and picked up wickets, Shakib has bowled economically but failed in his only innings with the bat. Pathan, on the other hand, has not had much to do with either bat or ball.
As the tournament moves ahead, the Kolkata all-rounders will need to bring their A-game to the fore.
Bowling
In terms of bowling, Andre Russell has led the way with 5 wickets in 4 matches. However, the other pacemen, Umesh Yadav and Morne Morkel, have done a fine job, too, by claiming 4 wickets each. Although the exit of John Hastings due to injury has been quite a setback for KKR, they have not been impacted by his absence yet.
The spinners have also been quite exceptional as all of them have been among the wickets. Leggie Piyush Chawla has taken 4 wickets, chinaman Brad Hogg has 3 and premier spinner Sunil Narine has 2 wickets against his name.
The Kolkata Knight Riders bowling attack looks like a well-oiled bowling machine at the moment; however, it will be interesting to see if they can stay this way throughout.
Probable Playing XI – Gautam Gambhir (c), Robin Uthappa (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Sheldon Jackson, Yusuf Pathan, Andre Russell, Shakib Al Hasan, Piyush Chawla, Sunil Narine, Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav.