Nitish Rana and Co. to stick with winning combination against embattled Rajasthan: KKR's predicted XI vs RR in IPL 2023

Having won five and lost six of their eleven games so far, KKR are fifth on the points table and very much in the hunt for the playoffs.

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will take on the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the IPL 2023 on May 11 at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata. KKR have won their last two games and will be looking for another win against an RR side that have lost their last three games. Having won five and lost six of their eleven games so far, KKR are fifth on the points table and very much in the hunt for the playoffs. (KKR vs RR Live Score IPL 2023)

Andre Russell seems to have found form with the bat for KKR in recent games. (PTI)

After the opening game defeat to PBKS, KKR defeated RCB comfortably at the Eden gardens and then won their second match in a row as they beat GT by three wickets in a thriller at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The batters could not repeat their heroics against SRH as they fell short by 23 runs while chasing a target of 228 in Kolkata in the reverse fixture. KKR then lost to MI at the Wankhede and lost to DC by four wickets in Delhi. KKR made it four losses in a row as they lost by 49 runs to CSK as they were unable to chase a mammoth 236 run target. KKR then got a much-needed win as they beat RCB at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. But then lost their next game to GT. Since then they have turned a corner and defeated SRH and PBKS in their last two games.

Last time out, A collective batting effort from KKR saw Nitish Rana lead from the front with a crucial knock of 51(38) before Andre Russell (42 off 23) and Rinku Singh (21* off 10) provided the final flourish to propel KKR to their fifth victory of the season. Earlier, a composed knock of 57(47) from captain Shikhar Dhawan, coupled with blistering cameos from Shahrukh Khan (21* off 8) and Harpreet Brar (17* off 9) propelled PBKS to a competitive 179/7. Jason Roy returned from injury in the last game and has now scored 218 runs in only five innings for KKR.

Venkatesh Iyer has scored 314 runs so far this season, but has looked off-colour since his maiden century against MI. Rinku Singh and captain Nitish Rana have along with Iyer done the bulk of the run scoring with 337 and 326 runs to their names respectively. Russell has also now chipped in with more than 200 runs this season.

The spinners have been the main wicket-takers this season for KKR. Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Suyash Sharma have scalped 34 wickets between them at an economy of 8. Russell has also chipped in with 7 wickets but has leaked a lot of runs.

The seamers have been underwhelming so far this season and have been smacked all over the park. Shardul Thakur, Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora have looked like their best seam bowling options so far and are expected to continue in the side against RR.

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.

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.