Andre Russell key in middle order as Kolkata look to stay alive in play-off race: KKR's predicted XI vs LSG in IPL 2023
Andre Russell will be key for KKR as they face LSG in their final IPL 2023 league match. Here is their predicted XI.
KKR's predicted XI vs LSG in IPL 2023: The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will take on Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL 2023 encounter at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata in their final game of the season on Saturday. KKR picked up a surprise victory over CSK in Chennai in their last game and still have a slim chance of going through to the playoffs if they win against LSG and other results go in their favour. Having won six and lost seven of their thirteen games so far, KKR are currently seventh on the points table.
Last time out, a skillful and disciplined bowling performance from the KKR bowlers, led by Sunil Narine (2/15), saw the away team restrict CSK to 144/6. Captain Nitish Rana (57* off 44) and the in-form Rinku Singh (54 off 43) then stabilised a stuttering chase with composed knocks to take KKR past the finish line.
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Venkatesh Iyer has scored 380 runs so far this season, with one century and two half-centuries. Rinku and Rana along with Iyer have done the bulk of scoring with 407 and 405 runs to their names respectively.
Andre Russell and Rahmanullah Gurbaz have chipped in with 220 runs and 217 runs respectively this season. Jason Roy has also chipped in with 240 runs in seven innings.
The spinners have been the main wicket-takers for KKR in the season. Varun Chakravarthy has picked 19 wickets at an economy of 8. Sunil Narine and Suyash Sharma have scalped 19 wickets between them at the same economy. Russell has chipped in with 7 wickets but has conceded more than 11 runs an over.
Harshit Rana and Shardul Thakur have scalped 9 wickets between them.
If KKR bat first Suyash Sharma could be brought on as the Impact player in the second innings. Whereas, Venkatesh Iyer could be brought on as the Impact Player if they field first.
KKR’s predicted XI vs LSG:
Openers: Jason Roy, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk).
Middle Order: Nitish Rana (c), Rinku Singh, Venkatesh Iyer.
All-rounders: Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur.
Bowlers: Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy.
