Squads:
Kolkata Knight Riders Squad: Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Rinku Singh, Eoin Morgan(c), Dinesh Karthik(w), Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Lockie Ferguson, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Varun Chakravarthy, Shivam Mavi, Andre Russell, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Ali Khan, Tom Banton, Manimaran Siddharth, Chris Green, Tim Seifert, Nikhil Naik, Siddhesh Lad, Sandeep Warrier
Rajasthan Royals Squad: Robin Uthappa, Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson(w), Steven Smith(c), Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Varun Aaron, Kartik Tyagi, David Miller, Manan Vohra, Ankit Rajpoot, Jaydev Unadkat, Aniruddha Joshi, Tom Curran, Andrew Tye, Shashank Singh, Mahipal Lomror, Oshane Thomas, Mayank Markande, Anuj Rawat, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Akash Singh
Andre Russell is back. Lockie is out. Rinku Singh misses out and Shivam Mavi comes in.
Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Sunil Narine, Eoin Morgan(c), Dinesh Karthik(w), Andre Russell, Rahul Tripathi, Pat Cummins, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy
Robin Uthappa, Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson(w), Steven Smith(c), Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Varun Aaron, Kartik Tyagi
Rajasthan Royals have won the toss and have opted to field
Ben Stokes: “We’ll be going in with a positive mindset in the final game. Obviously, we’ll look for the win in Dubai, KKR are a good side and we’ll have to play well and play with intent to beat them. It’s probably going to go down to the wire, the race for the final four, we’ve just got to believe in ourselves, play positively, and carry the momentum we have.”
The Royals are coming off an impressive win against the Kings. A performance which saw all departments chip in with vital contributions, making the chase look relatively straight forward. The men in pink would hope to carry the momentum and put on another team effort to upstage the Knights at the ring of fire in Dubai.he Big Talking Point
Rajasthan Royals take on Kolkata Knight Riders in what is the final league clash for both sides with a lot on the line. Both teams are locked on twelve points and have a do or die battle on their hands.
KL Rahul(w/c), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, James Neesham, Deepak Hooda, Chris Jordan, Murugan Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami
Faf du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni(w/c), N Jagadeesan, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir
Chennai Super Kings win toss, elect to bowl first.
Having already qualified for the playoffs before Saturday’s match, and by thrashing Delhi Capitals, Mumbai Indians made sure of top spot and two chances of making the IPL final. But what about the other teams. [Find Out]
Kings XI Punjab: KL Rahul, Mandeep Singh, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Deepak Hooda, Chris Jordan, Murugan Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, N Jagadeesan, Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner, Karn Sharma/Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Lungi Ngidi
Meanwhile, for CSK, 23-year-old Ruturaj Gaikwad has shown a lot of spark, notching up back-to-back fifties to set up the wins against RCB and KKR. Ravindra Jadeja has been in fantastic form, smashing boundaries and sixes towards the end of the innings.
The CSK bowling unit, boosted by the inclusion of New Zealand spinner Mitchell Santer, has done well in the previous two outings and will look to keep the momentum going.
KXIP’s bowling has been instrumental in their recent wins. However, against the Royals they leaked runs and were unable to pick wickets and skipper Rahul will hope his bowlers will be on top of their game against a CSK side, which cruised to a 10-wicket win in their previous meeting.
With skipper Rahul, the leading run-scorer of the tournament, and the flamboyant Chris Gayle coming good and the marauding Nicholas Pooran to follow at No 4, KXIP will fancy their chances at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
It remains to be seen if Mayank Agarwal, who has missed three games, returns to the side.
KXIP’s chances of a top four finish took a serious hit after Rajasthan Royals handed them a seven-wicket loss, snapping their impressive five match-winning streak.
The defeat means KXIP’s fate is not solely in their hands as even a win against CSK will not ensure them a play-off spot. The Punjab outfit will need other results to go their way.
This is Ravindra Jadeja's best IPL season with the bat - among Indian players, only Hardik Pandya has a better Strike Rate than Jadeja. Contrastingly, it has also been Jadeja's worst season with the ball - with just five wickets to his name.
"The season has ebbed and flowed, yes. Would have been nice to have a couple of wins in the middle. We still need to do a bit to make the playoffs, and we need things to go our way."
The Royals can certainly look forward to their batting at the Dubai International Stadium. Their talismanic England all-rounder Ben Stokes has just won a Man-of-the-Match award, having made a breezy half century after picking up two wickets, in the team’s win over Kings XI Punjab on Friday.
The 2019 World Cup final hero getting his mojo back, at such a crucial juncture of the tournament, is great news for the Royals. And, needless to say, a bad one for KKR as the leading all-rounder can singlehandedly influence the outcome of a game.
Sanju Samson rediscovering his touch must have also gladdened the hearts of the RR team management. The wicketkeeper-batsman had started the tournament on an explosive note before going off the rails midway, only to come back all guns blazing against KXIP.
Skipper Smith can play according to the situation and opener Robin Uthappa can put any attack to the sword on his day.
No opposition takes Jos Buttler lightly and then there is Rahul Tewatia and young Riyan Parag down the order, beefing up RR’s batting.
Meanwhile KKR’s road to the playoffs looks the toughest, thanks to their abysmal net run rate. Their only chance of qualification is if they beat Royals and finish on 14 points, with none of the other contenders reaching that tally. That seems improbable, the last two successive losses badly hurting their prospects.
Nevertheless, the likes of Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, captain Eoin Morgan in batting and Varun Chakravarthy, Pat Cummins and Kamlesh Nagarkoti with ball would like to give it their all.
Besides a victory in their last league game, Rajasthan Royals will also need other results to go their way if they are to make the playoffs of the IPL 2020.
The best-case scenario for RR would be Kings XI Punjab losing their last match and Sunrisers Hyderabad winning no more than one in their last two outings.
In that case, RR will go through with 14 points, without net run rate coming into play.
However, RR’s first task is to do what is within its control — win the match against the Knight Riders and then hope for the best. Given the tight situation, the bigger the margin of win, the better it will be for the Steve Smith-led side.
Hello and welcome to the LIVE COVERAGE of the Indian Premier League 2020. Today we have three teams fighting to remain alive in the competetion. Kings XI Punjab takes on Chennai Super Kings, and in the second match tonight we see Kolkata Knight Riders locking horns with Rajasthan Royals. Stay tuned for all the updates from these contests!