IPL 2025: Predicting 3 players who could pick up the most wickets in today’s RR vs KKR match ft. Sunil Narine
Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) face each other in the sixth IPL 2025 clash on Wednesday, March 26, in Guwahati. KKR are the defending champions after having won the IPL 2024 trophy.
However, their title defense did not start as per plan, as they suffered a seven-wicket loss against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in their opening match at the Eden Gardens. Meanwhile, RR, who made the playoffs last year, also faced a defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their first game of the 2025 season.
Bowlers from both sides had a tough time in their respective opening games. For KKR, they failed to defend 174 runs as RCB chased the target down in just 16.2 overs with seven wickets to spare. For RR, they conceded 286 runs bowling first against SRH.
As both teams aim for their first win of IPL 2025, their bowlers will have to step up and put up a better display. That said, here are three bowlers who could pick up the most wickets in today's RR vs KKR encounter.
3 players who could pick up the most wickets in today’s RR vs KKR match
#3 Varun Chakaravarthy
Varun Chakavarthy failed to live up to the expectations in the first game against RCB. Although he managed to pick up the wicket of Phil Salt, he was expensive, giving away 43 runs from his four overs.
Chakaravarthy picked up nine wickets for India from just three games in the 2025 Champions Trophy. He played a massive role in their victory with his stellar performance. The mystery spinner has been a consistent performer for KKR.
While he may not have started as he would have liked to, Chakavarthy is expected to bounce back and be among the wickets in the game against RR.
#2 Tushar Deshpande
For RR's bowlers, it was a struggle against SRH whose batters showed no mercy whatsoever. However, pacer Tushar Deshpande, despite going for a few, showed the courage to pick up three wickets.
He returned with figures of 3/44 from his four overs including the big scalp of Travis Head, who was on song with the bat. He also accounted for the wickets of Aniket Verma and Abhinav Manohar.
Under difficult circumstances, these figures will certainly given Deshpande the confidence to do well in the coming games. Against another potent batting line-up such as that of KKR, the pacer will have a key role to play with the ball. Rajasthan will hope for him to continue picking up wickets in this clash as well.
#1 Sunil Narine
KKR's spin wizard Sunil Narine once again showed his worth in the game against RCB. While all the other bowlers ended with an economy rate of over 10, Narine returned with figures of 1/27 from four overs at an economy rate of just 6.75.
Although he picked up just a solitary wicket, he was effective with the ball, as he is always expected to be. Narine bagged 17 wickets from 15 games last season and played a massive part in KKR's triumph.
Against the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, and Shimron Hetmyer amongst other RR batters, Narine will hold key to KKR's chances of keeping these batters quiet.