Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are set to host the defending champions Gujarat Titans in their 9th match of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season. It is a crucial phase for them in this IPL edition where even a single loss will reduce their chances to make it to the playoffs significantly. KKR have struggled a lot due to injury to their key players this season. Their skipper Shreyas Iyer is already ruled out while their key player Shardul Thakur hasn't played for them since 16th April when the team faced Mumbai Indians.
While many felt he was dropped from the side, the all-rounder was left out due to a niggle. However, according to Cricbuzz, Thakur has now recovered from his injury and is set to make a comeback against the Gujarat Titans on Saturday. He had bowled an extended spell and also batted in the nets before the last game and looks set to make an appearance in this encounter.He will most likely replace Vaibhav Arora who made his KKR debut against RCB in the last game.
Meanwhile, KKR will be worried with the form of Andre Russell who is enduring his second-worst IPL season this year. He is yet to play an impact knock and hasn't been that great with the ball either. He will come up against Rashid Khan who has got him out five times in 39 balls while conceding only 54 runs in the T20 format. Another KKR IPL veteran Sunil Narine is also having a poor IPL season. He has gone wicketless for five consecutive matches for the first time in his IPL career. Narine's economy rate of 8.9 in IPL 2023 is also his most expensive season thus far.
KKR Probable Playing XI: N Jagadeesan (wk), Jason Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, David Wiese, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy. Impact sub - Suyash Sharma.
