Jason Roy races against Gurbaz for opening spot as Kolkata set to bring RCB destroyer back: KKR's likely XI vs GT

Jason Roy will be up against Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a place in the KKR XI when the side meets Gujarat Titans in the 2023 Indian Premier League.

Published on: Apr 9, 2023, 08:20:03 IST

By HT Sports Desk, New Delhi

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The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will take on the defending champions Gujarat Giants (GT) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on April 8. The Knight Riders didn’t have the best of starts to their IPL 2023 campaign as they lost to the Punjab Kings in their opening fixture, but bounced back to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore comprehensively to grab their first win.

Shardul Thakur's stunning counter-attacking innings of 68 (29) coupled with calculated knocks from Rahmanullah Gurbaz (57 off 44) and Rinku Singh (46 off 33) helped KKR post a daunting 204/7 after recovering from 89/5. The KKR spinners then came to the party as Varun Chakravarthy (4/15), Sunil Narine (2/16) and debutant Suyash Sharma (3/30) spun a web around the RCB batters to bowl them out for 123 and win the match by 81 runs.

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KKR would be satisfied with the efforts of their batters for now as Gurbaz, Iyer, Russell, Thakur and Rinku Singh have all chipped in with runs in the opening games. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Shardul Thakur both scored half-centuries against RCB and are the top scorers for the franchise with 79 and 76 runs respectively.

More would be expected from skipper Nitish Rana as he has only scored 25 runs in the two games. Andre Russell has not bowled a solitary over in the season yet, and would be looking to make a big impact against GT with the bat after being dismissed for a golden duck against RCB.

Mandeep Singh has not made any contribution in the opening games and might be replaced in the line-up by one of Anukul Roy or N Jagadeesan.

Englishman Jason Roy, who was recently signed by KKR, might get his first game of the 2023 season against GT. Gurbaz has been in good form and he could be brought in to replace Mandeep.

The spinners won the game for KKR on a spin-friendly track at the Eden Gardens against RCB. Chakravarthy, Narine and debutant Suyash Sharma have picked up 11 wickets in the two games, with Chakravarthy leading the charts with 5 scalps.

More would be asked from the seamers as Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee and Shardul Thakur have combined for just 4 wickets in the two games. Although he has picked up two wickets Southee has been very expensive so far, conceding 79 runs in his six overs over the two games. He might be replaced in the starting XI once Lockie Ferguson is fit again. Andre Russell might also be asked to chip in with a couple of overs in the upcoming games.

Chandrakant Pandit will hope his side can continue their winning ways and hand the Titans their first defeat of the season in Ahmedabad.

KKR predicted XI vs GT

Openers: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer.

Middle Order: Nitish Rana (c), Rinku Singh, N Jagadeesan

All-Rounders: Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur.

Bowlers: Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy.

Impact Player: Suyash Sharma might be utilised as the Impact player again in the game against GT.

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