IPL 2018, KKR v RR: 5 players battles to look forward to

After three back to back wins, Rajasthan Royals now find themselves in 4th place in the table and with a real chance of making it to the playoffs. Tonight they will take on third-placed Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens and it is going to be a crunch game that could ultimately have a big say on how the table shapes up. RR have been in excellent form and their batting has been propelled by opening batsman Jos Buttler, who has been in incredible form over the past 5 games.

What makes tonight’s game such a crucial one is that both teams have played 12 games each and won 6, which is why the winner of tonight’s game would be a great position to seal a place in the playoffs. The game would eventually be decided by the high voltage individual battles that will take place tonight between the players from either side and here is a look at 5 of the most important ones.

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#5 Piyush Chawla v Ben Stokes

He was the man of the tournament last year as Rising Pune Supergiants made it to the final of the IPL but in 2018, Ben Stokes has struggled with the bat and his problems against spin have been exposed by quite a few bowlers. That being said, he is the sort of player who needs a few hits to get going and if he does, then the KKR might have a very long night on their hands. However, he is going to have a tough battle on his hands against KKR’s spin trio and in particular, against leg-spinner Piyush Chawla.

In the previous encounter, Chawla returned with brilliant figures of 1 for 18 in 4 overs and dismissed Stokes to derail the RR innings. He would look to do something similar tonight and it remains to be seen whether the England all-rounder has developed any strategy to handle leg-spin yet. This is going to be an intense battle and one that would have a big impact on the game.

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