Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) has crossed the 200 mark twice in four matches in this edition of the IPL —against Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Ahead of its contest against Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium here, the team will be confronted with the high batting benchmarks it has set.
KKR has two wins as does RR from three. On a turf that has traditionally encouraged stroke-play, the batsmen hold the key. RR bowlers would encounter an opposition that has grown in strength with every match but there is enough for the home team to back its instincts, especially after Sanju Samson’s rediscovery of his confidence and repertoire of shots.
Samson, a talent regarded as awesome by Rahul Dravid, has been an enigma of sorts. Troubled by his rocky relationship with the Kerala Cricket Association, the gifted batsman suffered from self-doubt for some time before storming back into the reckoning. If only he had a mentor like Dravid in his formative cricketing years, Samson would have been an established member of the Indian team today.
Forty-four matches since his First Class debut in 2011 may not be the best advertisement of Samson’s potential. The 23-year-old has just begun to realise his priorities and is focussed on achieving his dreams. Not that he would be elevated to the senior ranks in a jiffy now but the IPL experience and exposure is bound to work in his efforts to rebuild his career.
The freedom with which Samson bats is a reflection of his mindset — dominate the competition. His 92 not out against RCB the other night was a worthy performance, as good as any one may have seen in the IPL. It was a sensational precursor to what his team can expect from Samson.
Andre Russell will also be the one to watch on Wednesday. An acknowledged entertainer in the T20 format, he has played some astonishingly robust shots during his four visits to the middle. With a rich experience of playing in different professional T20 leagues around the world, Russell has proved to be a good buy for KKR.
Accounting for Samson and Russell’s form, it is the batting depth of KKR and RR that shall count on Wednesday.
Squads :
Rajasthan Royals : Heinrich Klassen, Benjamin Stokes, Jaydev Unadkat, Sanju Samson, Jofra Archer, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jos Buttler, Ajinkya Rahane, Darcy Short, Rahul Tripathi, Dhawal Kulkarni, Zahir Khan Pakteen, Ben Laughlin, Stuart Binny, Dushmantha Chameera, Anureet Singh, Aryaman Vikram Birla, Midhun S, Shreyas Gopal, Prashant Chopra, Jatin Saxena, Ankit Sharma, Mahipal Lomror.
Kolkata Knight Riders : Dinesh Karthik (c and WK), Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Shivam Mavi, Mitchell Johnson, Shubman Gill, R Vinay Kumar, Rinku Singh, Cameron Delport, Javon Searless, Apoorv Wankhade, Ishank Jaggi and Tom Curran.
