IPL 2022: Match 66 – Predicted Kolkata Knight Riders Playing XI vs Lucknow Super Giants

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have six wins in 13 league matches and are currently at the sixth position in the IPL 2022 points table. They will have to win this game by a big margin in order to qualify for the playoffs. In their last league match, Knight Riders secured a 54-run victory over the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

After a balanced performance by the batters to score 177, the bowlers were terrific with their efforts to restrict the opposition to 123. In their next league match, they will be up against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), who would also look to win this game and confirm their place in the playoffs. With the untimely injury to Ajinkya Rahane, Baba Indrajith can make a comeback into the Playing XI.

Here’s a look at the Kolkata Knight Riders’ predicted playing XI against LSG:

Openers: Venkatesh Iyer and Baba Indrajith

The openers of KKR have been inconsistent and have also failed to leave an impact on the tournament. Many combinations have been tried out by the team management for the opening slot, but all have been unable to provide a good start to the team. In the last league match, Ajinkya Rahane sustained a hamstring injury and has been ruled out of the tournament.

In this league match, they are expected to include Baba Indrajith as a replacement for Rahane. Although he has garnered only 21 runs in three appearances, still the team might try him out in this match as he has already featured in the tournament and would look to make full use of this opportunity.

On the other hand, Venkatesh returned to the team against Mumbai Indians (MI) and scored 43 runs. However, he was dismissed for a score of 7 in the last league game and has a scope for improvement. In 11 matches, the southpaw has slammed 182 runs.

Middle Order: Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Sam Billings (wk) and Rinku Singh

The middle order has been critical to the team’s victories in the ongoing season. Captain Shreyas Iyer has 351 runs in 13 innings at a strike rate of 130.48. His recent three scores are read as 15, 6 and 6, which depicts his disappointing performances and needs to recover from a bad form and provide some good contributions to the team.

Nitish Rana has been impressive with his hefty contributions in the season and has 319 runs at a strike rate of 139.30. In the last outing, he scored 26 off 16 balls. Another left-hander, Rinku Singh has done well with 134 runs in six league games, with a top score of 42*.

The wicket-keeper Sam Billings returned to the side in the last game and scored a decent 34 off 29 balls, which laid a strong platform for the team to post a good total on the board. So far, he has 133 runs in seven innings at an average of 22.16.

All-rounders: Andre Russell and Sunil Narine

This department holds much importance for the team, due to the presence of experienced all-rounders who have been doing well for the team in the last few years and hence were retained ahead of the 2022 mega auctions as well. The power-house of talent, Andre Russell has been terrific in the tournament and has justified his retention by contributing in both the departments of the game.

The all-rounder has made sure that he helps the team in one of the departments, if he fails in the other one. In the last fixture, he was named player of the match for scoring 49 runs and picking up three wickets. The Jamaican-born cricketer has 330 runs and 17 wickets to his name.

On the other hand, Sunil Narine has displayed average performances so far this season. He has scored only 50 runs and has a total of 9 wickets in 13 matches. His economy of 5.48 has been rather impressive.

Bowlers: Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee and Varun Chakravarthy

The bowling unit did quite well for the team in the last league match by securing a comfortable victory. The experienced pacer, Tim Southee has been performing well in terms of putting brakes on the opposition and is consistently picking up wickets as well. In the last game, he finished with figures of 2/23 in four overs.

Yadav was terrific with his wicket-taking ability in the first half of the tournament. Although he was out of action for a few matches due to injury, but returned in the last game and took a single wicket while giving away just 19 runs off his full quota of overs.

The spinner Varun Chakrvarthy made a comeback to the team and his recent figures are read as 1/25 and 1/22, and has performed decently so far, he would look to continue the good form in this crucial fixture.

KKR’s predicted playing XI for LSG’s clash: Venkatesh Iyer, Baba Indrajith, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Sam Billings (wk), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Varun Chakaravarthy.