IPL 2021 | KKR vs RR Preview - It is just about the math
It has taken just about six months/180 days/4320 hours to reach this stage, but we finally have. The final group stage game for these two franchises turned out to be a do or die encounter. We have danced this dance before though. It has been about a week that we have known that it was going to be a fatal four-way for the final playoffs spot, but little did we know that even in the 54th match of the tournament, we would not get a clear answer as to who are going through to the top four. Having said that, it is not just about those top four spots. This is also going to be the final match for at least one of these two teams ahead of yet another mega auction of the coveted Indian Premier League. Which only means that, the players have to be on their toes to impress; the franchises will get to have a final look at the players who they think will fit in their future plans; and don’t forget that this will be the final match practice at an international standard ahead of the T20 World Cup that has been knocking on the door. But let’s not jumble all that up. This is the Indian Premier League, and there is just one thing on the line, ‘MATH’. Well, what’s that you say? Umm, ya. This game is at such a weird spot that every single ball, wicket and run count. Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians stormed back into contention for the final four spots after pulverising the Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday, 5 October in Sharjah. Not only did Mumbai defeat Rajasthan, they defeated the Jaipur based franchise with 70 balls remaining and 8 wickets in hand. What that win did to the table was that, it shot Mumbai up to the 5th place in the league table, having been tattering in the 7th spot last week. Just when it seemed like Mumbai could never ever manage the deficit of the Net Run Rate (NRR), they pulled it back from -0.453 to -0.048. One more game like this, and it could very well be possible that Mumbai make it to the top 4 on the final day (group stage) of the IPL 2021. The chronology of events After Tuesday’s game, Mumbai and Kolkata are tied at 12 points each with one game remaining. Rajasthan Royals on the other hand are only ‘mathematically’ in the tournament with 10 points from 13 games. It is near impossible for them to better their NRR of -0.737 and even if they win the game by a huge margin, they will probably not qualify. It means that the onus is completely on the injury ridden KKR that they either find a way to win this game, or at least fight if things go south. Worst case scenario, they will have to manage the game and make the loss margin so small that even another humongous Mumbai victory won’t affect them; and they will qualify via a superior NRR. The dreaded Sharjah You don't have to go as far back as Sachin Tendulkar’s blizzard innings to know what Sharjah pitches are capable of producing. Last season, sixes were flying off to the hotel building adjacent to the Sharjah stadium. People were covering their heads as they passed the stadium, just in case a hit landed on their head. But this year, it has been a little different. In the last match between Mumbai and Rajasthan, in the 10th over, a good length delivery from Nathan Coulter-Nile bamboozled the opposition batsman Glenn Phillips, going below his knees and cleaning him up as the Kiwi was trying to swipe the ball out of the stadium. In the 20th over, once again it was Nathan Coulter-Nile, who’s short of a good length delivery hit the top of leg stump, finishing off Chetan Sakariya, who was left in bewilderment with the lack of bounce on that delivery. And out of the three possible grounds, it will be Sharjah that will host this crucial game between Kolkata and Rajasthan. Makings of a disaster Both KKR and RR batting units have been misfiring throughout the season. Both teams pretty much have non-existent middle orders, who on most days decide not to show up. On the days that the openers take charge, the teams huff and puff to an average total but that’s about it. Both Kolkata and Rajasthan are marred with the issue of missing their marquee players. KKR have a long line of injury list with mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy being the latest among the squad. Considering that Morgan’s team already lacks the services of Lockie Ferguson and Andre Russell, who would have been very handy in this pitch, Kolkata will be in a tight spot. Rajasthan on the other hand did not have the services of Chris Morris, Karthik Tyagi in the last game, and if it stays that way, it is very unlikely they will be able to get their mojo back after the drubbing they received on Tuesday. All in all, this game has the makings of a disaster where it might end up being ‘who’s a little less worse on the day’. Match Details Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals Match number: 54 Date and Time: October, 19:30 IST Venue: Sharjah Broadcast: Stars Sports Network & Hotstar Pitch Report Sharjah has remained low and slow throughout this season, but it has deteriorated alarmingly over the past couple of matches. RR chief Kumar Sangakarra has been very vocal about how to go about things at Sharjah and has stated time and again that the teams need to utilise the power play, then see through till the 15th over, conserve wickets and then go for the kill. The teams should not have to look anywhere else for a template and should choose to bat second to assess the wicket better in the night game. Key Men in the Encounter Sunil Narine A wicket like this is best suited for someone like Sunil Narine. Operating in the 5-7 meter range, it is difficult to step down against the Trinidadian and it is very hard to pull him due to his pace and skiddy nature. Narine has been in impeccable form this season. Statistically, this is his best season since 2018 and he has already picked up 10 wickets from 10 matches, at an astounding economy of 6.42 runs per over. In a world of diminishing returns for Narine, who has been consistently called for his action since 2014, it is incredible that he has been able to provide these returns with the ball. For comparison's sake, an unplayable Narine in 2014 scalped 21 wickets in 16 matches at an economy of 6.35 runs per over. 2021 Narine, obviously is not close, has clearly been effective. In the last game in Sharjah, not only did Narine pick up two crucial wickets of Shreyas Iyer and Lalit Yadav, he rescued Kolkata single-handedly coming in bat at #7, scoring 21 off just 10 balls. Back in his prime, Sunil Narine saving Kolkata from imminent disasters was granted. The fact that he does it in 2021 at 33 years of age, is just mind-boggling. Sanju Samson When Rajasthan Royals chose Sanju Samson as the captain for the 2021 season, it raised several eyebrows. For one, nobody had seen the traits of a captain in him at that point, or for that matter, he himself hadn’t done anything prolific to demand that position. However, Rajasthan took a gamble and it paid off, well, not for Rajasthan, but for Sanju Samson. This has been Samson’s most successful season in the Indian Premier League. In 2021 - he has already scored 483 runs from 13 matches - bettering his previous best of 441 in 2018. He has taken on more responsibility while in the crease, building an innings steadily. His strike rate this season is at 138.oo, his slowest in the 3-4 years. And here’s where it gets interesting, and really starts reflecting how good Samson has been this season. The Kerala-lad’s average this season is hovering around 44-45 per game, miles ahead of where he has usually been in the previous years, either in high 20s or low 30s. Having said that, it hasn’t been enough. Rajasthan in the matches that they have won, have been saved by exceptional individual performances. Barring the openers, the team has not fired in tandem and the fact that they virtually have a non-existent middle order has not helped the batting side of things at all. Samson has risen to the occasion, but as a captain, his marshalling of the troops has been questioned time and again. And it will happen, given there is no sure-shot way to judge the impact of a captain of a losing team. You can either blame it on him or blame the non-firing individuals. This will be Samson’s final chance to prove his worth to the franchise ahead of the mega-auction next season, to prove that he does indeed belong. Team News Kolkata Knight Riders KKR are in some serious trouble if reports from the BCCI sources are to be believed. They have stated that Varun Chakravarthy is not in playing condition and could be in trouble for the T20 World Cup starting on 17 October. There is a glimmer of hope with both Lockie Ferguson and Andre Russell back in training, but that does not necessarily mean that they would be able to get match fit in time. Probable XI Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan (c), Shakib Al Hasan, Dinesh Karthik (w), Sunil Narine, Shivam Mavi, Tim Southee/Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy/Harbhajan Singh Rajasthan Royals One of the issues with the misfiring Rajasthan line-up has been that they have made a galore of combinational changes in the games. With no momentum to be found anywhere throughout their campaign that might just be the case again. Considering the size of the ground and the lack of prime KKR bowlers, RR might look to bring in Liam Livingstone in their line up. One of the brave choices that they could possibly make is to bring back Chris Morris, who has not been picked in the line-up for a while after his dreadful outing against Royal Challengers Bangalore. However, Morris has historically been good against the Kolkata based franchise and it could be an arguable choice to bring him in to boost the batting and the bowling line-up. Probable XI Evin Lewis, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (wk/c), Shivam Dube, Glenn Phillips/Liam Livingstone, Chris Morris, Rahul Tewatia, Shreyas Gopal, Kuldip Yadav, Mustafizur Rahman, Chetan Sakariya CE Fantasy XI Sanju Samson, Evin Lewis, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathy, Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal (vc), Shakib al Hasan, Sunil Narine (c), Mustafizur Rahman, Varun Chakravarthy, Chetan Sakariya
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