RR vs KKR, IPL 2025: Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders match preview, probable playing XIs, head-to-head stats

RR vs KKR, IPL 2025: Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders match preview, probable playing XIs, head-to-head stats (IPL Photo)

RR vs KKR, IPL 2025: 2008 edition champions Rajasthan Royals (RR) will face three-time winners Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Wednesday. Both KKR and the Royals lost their tournament openers in this edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), and as a result, are languishing at the bottom of the table.

KKR lost the tournament opener to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by 7 wickets on Saturday, while the Royals crashed to a 44-run defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Sunday. But these are early days in the tournament and both teams would be looking to bounce back on Wednesday. A victory will give either team the boost they need to move up the table.

Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders: Head-to-Head

Ajinkya Rahane is a seasoned leader who understands how to get his team to win, while the Royals would be looking for the home advantage. Since 2008, the Royals and KKR have faced off in 30 IPL games. With two games called off, the Royals and Knight Riders have each won 14 times in their head-to-head record.

The Royals have won three of their last five games against KKR who have one victory in there, along with a no result.

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Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders: What to expect

Guwahati's Barsapara Cricket Stadium has a batting-friendly IPL pitch that requires little help from bowlers and frequently yields high first-inning scores of 180 to 190 runs. High totals have been regularly achieved at this venue over recent IPL seasons, and the conditions are further skewed in favor of chasing batsmen by the thick dew in evening matches.

On this surface, pacers have typically been more successful than spinners. The Rajasthan Royals' first home IPL match of 2024 saw them score 193 for four in 20 overs.
On matchday, the weather won't be a problem at all. With bright skies overhead, extremely warm temperatures are predicted and there is no prediction of rain.

Bowling first may be preferred by both teams. In their last match at the venue, the Royals chose to bowl first after winning the toss. The chasing team has won three of the last five matches.

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Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders: Probable XIs

Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag (c), Nitish Rana, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Shubham Dubey, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Sharma

Kolkata Knight Riders: Quinton de Kock (wk), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Spencer Johnson, Varun Chakravarthy