There are no Monday blues during the IPL season as the Kolkata Knight Riders are all set to take on Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, on May 2.
Rajasthan Royals come into this match on the back of a defeat against Mumbai Indians. Nonetheless, they sit comfortably at the third spot on the points table. KKR, however, have a lot of questions to answer. They have lost five consecutive games and are languishing at the eighth spot on the table.
Either way, when these two teams meet at the Wankhede, both the dug-outs will have certain matchups in mind. These are the player battles to watch out for when you tune in to watch the Knights take on the Royals.
Aaron Finch vs Trent Boult
The world knows about Finch's struggle against the moving ball. Wankhede, this season, has helped the seamers in the first few overs.
Finch will know that Boult will try to get the delivery to nip back in.
The world knows it. But how will Finch try and counterattack it, will be a thing to watch out for. In the last match, Sakariya made Finch really uncomfortable with the movement he was getting. Finch ultimately stepped out and holed it to deep mid-wicket.
Andre Russell vs Ravi Ashwin
The last time these two teams met, Ashwin got Russell out on a beautiful carrom ball. Russell is a competitor and so is Ash. Both will have this matchup in mind and will look to go hard at each other.
This battle will have far-reaching implications as both teams depend heavily on their respective players in crunch situations.
Prasidh Krishna vs Shreyas Iyer
The best vs the best. Krishna is undoubtedly one of the most sought after Indian bowlers right now. Shreyas Iyer, on the other hand, is the most versatile batsman that KKR have in their ranks.
In 9 matches this season, Krishna has a total of 11 wickets with a brilliant economy rate of 7.78. Iyer too is having a good season with 290 runs in 9 matches with a strike rate of 137.44.
This contest has blockbuster written all over it.
