Focus on top-order as KKR battle for survival against RR

The fans at the DY Patil Stadium witnessed one of the most emotional moments in the Indian Premier League, as the Rajasthan Royals and the Mumbai Indians paid tribute to the first Royal, Shane Warne minutes before the start of play.

The catalyst behind Rajasthan's fearless approach and the man known to unearth local talent, Rajasthan have imbibed his style of play in this edition of the tournament. 

In the nine league matches played thus far, it is fair to say that they have reaped massive dividends with a plethora of players on the fringes of the national side, guiding the team over the line and helping them to second position on the points table. 

Despite faltering in the last encounter against Mumbai, the team will aim to brush aside the defeat and focus all their attention on winning the two out of their last five clashes to secure their place in the playoffs. 

However, it is not going to be easy as they lock horns against Kolkata Knight Riders, who will set foot at the Wankhede Stadium with their fates hanging by a thread after losing five games on the trot. 

With six points in nine games, the Shreyas-Iyer led franchise need to win their five remaining fixtures to reach 16 points and stand a chance to qualify for the final four. 

While the Knight Riders are known to turn things around, this edition is a lot different as the team has been guilty of constantly chopping and changing the combinations and not having specific roles assigned to the players.

Opening conundrum for the Knights 

Last season's second half witnessed the emergence of Venkatesh Iyer who quickly became their important batter at the top of the order. However, the southpaw has failed to replicate the heroics of last year and managed to score only 132 runs in nine innings at an average of 16.5.

A detailed analysis of the above pitch map helps us understand that in the nine matches played thus far, the teams have managed to bowl short and at the body of the tall left-hander. Opposition bowlers have also kept the ball away from his hitting arc, which has led to his downfall.  

While the onus of the side relied heavily on his shoulders to get the team off to a flying start, his diminishing returns and lack of support at the other end have plagued the Purple and Golds. 

Despite having two seasoned campaigners in Aaron Finch and Ajinkya Rahane as the designated openers in the squad, the duo have not been amongst the runs, adding enormous pressure on the middle-order. 

The finalists last year have tried five opening combinations, which is the most by any team in this season, and their average of 14.2 runs opening partnership is also the second-lowest among 10 teams. 

Over dependency on Jos Buttler 

With 566 runs in nine innings at an average of 70.75 and a strike rate of 155.1, Jos Buttler is the leading run-scorer in the competition. While all the focus and attention has been on Buttler and his exploits at the top of the order, the other batters in the playing XI have failed to produce consistent performances, which is an area of concern for Sanju Samson and the team management. 

The 31-year old has single-handedly shouldered the responsibility of the side but will need the other batters to step up in the business end of the competition. 

While Buttler is leading the charts, the next player with the most runs is Samson, with 244 runs in nine innings at an average of 30.5. With a gap of over 300 runs between the top two run-scorers, Rajasthan will be in deep trouble in case the wicket-keeper endures a challenging game as the other players have been short on runs.

Rajasthan ought to have contributions from other batters in the playing XI and ensure the outcome of the game is not entirely dependent on the performance of Buttler. 

The curious case of Trent Boult at the death 

One of the most destructive bowlers in the shortest format of the game, Trent Boult wreaked havoc with the new ball and scalped four wickets at an economy rate of 6.7 runs per over. 

However, the left-arm seamer has been under pressure while bowling at the death and conceded 109 runs in eight overs at an economy rate of 13.6.

While Samson and the team management would hope for the Kiwi pacer to nail his yorkers at the back end of the innings, his lack of consistency in that phase has prompted them to sneak in an over from Daryl Mitchell in the middle-overs. 

In their league match against Bangalore, this proved to be a masterstroke, with Samson stating the importance of the over that went for only seven runs. However, against Mumbai, Mitchell's six deliveries leaked 20 runs that swung the match in favour of the opposition. 

With the games going all the way down to the wire, Rajasthan would expect a lot more from their senior bowler to stand up and complete his quota of overs in the upcoming games. 

Probable XI:

Kolkata Knight Riders:  Aaron Finch, Sunil Narine, Shreyas Iyer(c), Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Baba Indrajith (wk), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana

Rajasthan Royals: Rajasthan: Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Daryl Mitchell, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna