In a highly anticipated clash, the Rajasthan Royals (RR), the inaugural champions of the Indian Premier League (IPL), will welcome the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati for the final double-header of the league stage on Sunday. While KKR has already secured their place at the top of the table, RR still has one final task to accomplish: winning their last group stage match against the former to seal the 2nd spot and advance to the playoffs.
Both teams will be without their respective English star players for this crucial encounter. KKR will miss the services of Phil Salt, while RR will be without Jos Buttler. RR has assigned the opening duties to Tom-Kohler Cadmore in the absence of Buttler, and KKR is likely to opt for Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz to partner with Sunil Narine at the top of the order.
The Barsapara Stadium has traditionally favored batters, with teams opting to post substantial totals on the board. Despite being RR’s second home ground, the venue has only hosted one match this season, which RR lost to the Punjab Kings (PBKS) while batting second. Last season, the ground hosted two IPL matches, both of which were won by teams batting first.
In their head-to-head record, both teams have faced each other on 29 occasions, with each side claiming 14 victories and one match ending in a no result. Notably, RR emerged victorious in their most recent encounter against the Knight Riders earlier this season.
Fantasy cricket enthusiasts can consider the following players for their XI: Yashaswi Jaiswal, Sunil Narine (captain), Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Dhruv Jurel, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell (vice-captain), Ravichandran Ashwin, Mitchell Starc, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Trent Boult.
