IPL 2026, KKR vs RR 28th Match Match Preview
Big image: RR’s underbelly and Jadeja’s position
Form information
Kolkata Knight Riders LLLLL (final 5 accomplished matches, most up-to-date first)
Rajasthan Royals LWWWW
Key questions
Team information: Hetmyer prone to return
KKR might discipline an unchanged aspect.
Kolkata Knight Riders (possible): 1 Ajinkya Rahane (capt), 2 Tim Seifert (wk), 3 Angkrish Raghuvanshi, 4 Cameron Green, 5 Rovman Powell, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Anukul Roy, 8 Ramandeep Singh, 9 Sunil Narine, 10 Kartik Tyagi, 11 Varun Chakravarthy, 12 Vaibhav Arora
In Parag’s phrases, Hetmyer was “rested” towards Sunrisers Hyderabad. If he returns, Lhuan-dre Pretorius might have to sit down out.
Rajasthan Royals (possible): 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, 3 Dhruv Jurel (wk), 4 Riyan Parag (capt), 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Donovan Ferreira, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Jofra Archer, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Nandre Burger, 11 Tushar Deshpande, 12 Sandeep Sharma
In the highlight: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Sunil Narine
Stats and trivia
- Ajinkya Rahane has a strike charge of 94.93 (75 runs in 79 balls) towards Sandeep Sharma within the IPL.
- Ravi Bishnoi has dismissed Rovman Powell 5 occasions in 39 balls in T20s whereas giving freely simply 30 runs.
- Narine has saved Hetmyer and Jadeja quiet. Across all T20s, Hetmyer has a strike charge of 102.72 towards him and Jadeja 89.28.
- Varun Chakravarthy has dismissed Donovan Ferreira thrice in ten balls in T20 cricket whereas giving freely simply 5 runs.
Pitch and circumstances
The final two afternoon video games on this explicit floor, pitch no. 4, they had been gained by the crew batting first. But KKR and RR may not be swayed simply by that, as a result of within the first of these, KKR virtually chased down 239 towards Lucknow Super Giants, and within the second, Italy gave England a large scare chasing 203 on the 2026 T20 World Cup.
Quotes
“When things are not going your way, you tend to think too many things. I feel it’s all about being in the moment. Just go out there and try to enjoy the game, back ourselves as a unit rather than thinking about the things that are not in our control. As a team, we just have to go out there, play our game and be aggressive and positive from ball number one.”
Ajinkya Rahanethe KKR captain
“When I watch Riyan bat, he’s batting really well. He is hitting the ball off the middle, he knows the ball is going where he wants it to go. There are some days when you’re batting well, you are just not getting the runs. You hit a good shot and suddenly you are like, how did I get out doing that? In the middle order in T20 cricket, you’re not looking at long innings, you’re looking at impact, and that’s something that Riyan can do really, really well.”
Kumar SangakkaraRR’s director of cricket and head coach, on Riyan Parag
Hemant Brar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
