In a clash of two teams who have already qualified for the playoffs, the Kolkata Knight Riders will take on the Rajasthan Royals at the Barsapara Stadium in the last double-header of the league on Sunday. The Knight Riders have already cemented themselves on the top as they will look to earn another feather to their cap and end their group stage on a winning note.

On the other hand, the Royals will have a final task in their hands in the form of winning their last league match to finish at no.2 in the table and earning 2 golden matches of getting to the finals in the knockouts. Both teams will miss their star English players in action. While Jos Buttler was replaced by Tom Kohler-Cadmore in RR, KKR might avail the services of Rahmanullah Gurbaz.

KKR likely XI (if batting first)

Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sunil Narine, Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Ramandeep Singh, Manish Pandey, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Vaibhav Arora

KKR likely XI (if bowling first)

Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sunil Narine, Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Ramandeep Singh, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Mitchell Starc

Impact Players: Mitchell Starc, Manish Pandey, KS Bharat, Anukul Roy

RR likely XI (if batting first)

Yashaswi Jaiswal, Tom-Kohler Cadmore, Sanju Samson(c/wk), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Donovan Ferreira, Rovman Powell, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Sen

RR likely XI (if bowling first)

Yashaswi Jaiswal, Tom-Kohler Cadmore, Sanju Samson(c/wk), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Rovman Powell, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Sen

Impact Players: Donowan Ferreira, Yuzvendra Chahal, Tanush Kotiyan

Player Statistics (Kolkata Knight Riders)

Sunil Narine

Emerging as the highest run-scorer for KKR this season, Sunil Narine has registered gigantic partnerships alongside Phil Salt for the team. The Caribbean player has scored 461 runs from 12 matches at a strike rate of 182.84 with three fifties and a solitary hundred to his name.

Varun Chakravarthy

Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy has outshined the batsmen from the opponent teams with his trickery. The KKR bowler has been the highest wicket-taker for his team with 18 scalps from 12 matches at an economy of 8.34.

Players who can make a difference

Andre Russell

KKR’s destructive all-rounder Andre Russell can never be written off when it comes to turning the course of events for the team, such is the sheer power of the Caribbean. Russell has been one of the emphatic players for KKR with both bat and ball scoring 222 runs in 12 matches at a strike rate of 185, which includes some vital finishing cameos and 15 scalps to his favour.

Mitchell Starc

Aussie speedster Mitchell Starc was roped in as the most expensive player in the history of IPL as he fumbled to make ends meet earlier this season. However, the left-arm quickie has bounced back and is now one of the most dangerous bowlers to face at the death where the former has brought back his signature toe-crushing yorkers into play. Starc has picked 12 wickets from 11 matches.

Player statistics (Rajasthan Royals)

Riyan Parag

Left-hander Riyan Parag has staged an impressive comeback after a string of average showings in the past seasons for RR. The left-hander has been the highest run-getter for RR with 531 runs in 13 matches at a strike rate of 152.59 with 4 fifties in the bank.

Sanju Samson

RR skipper Sanju Samson has been a class apart for the Royals this season. The wicket-keeper batsman has played many standalone innings for the team where he has scored 504 runs from just 13 innings at a strike rate of 156.52 with the fifties to his name.

Players who can make a difference

Yuzvendra Chahal

Yuzvendra Chahal has been the highest wicket-taker for Rajasthan. The right-arm leggie has scalped wickets at crucial junctures of the game with his deceptive bowling. Chahal has picked 17 wickets from 13 matches at an economy of 9.38.

Yashaswi Jaiswal

Youngster Yashaswi Jaiswal has given solid headstarts to the team alongside Jos Buttler for RR which has been decisive in many ways. In the absence of the latter, the onus will be on Jaiswal as he’ll look to mount as many runs on the board as possible. The left-hander has scored 348 runs from 13 matches with a fifty and a hundred.

Venue Details

The Barsapara Cricket Stadium is batting paradise which offers a lot of runs to the batsmen. Being RR’s second home ground, the venue has hosted only one match this season which the team lost to PBKS where the latter batted second. Ideally the teams can prefer batting first and post a huge total on the board should they win the toss.

Match Prediction

While both the teams have qualified for the playoffs, a win will only sum up their entire season in terms of how good they have been. However, RR will be desperate for a win after losing four straight games and might look to go an extra mile against KKR to cement themselves on the second spot. As they play on their home ground, they might also look to capitalise on their chances of winning against the table-toppers.

Fantasy XI

Yashaswi Jaiswal, Sunil Narine (c), Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Dhruv Jurel, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell (vc), Ravichandran Ashwin, Mitchell Starc, Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult

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