### Key match stats KKR vs RR
**Pitch Stats – Wankhede Stadium**

Average first innings score: 170
Average first innings winning score: 186
Average powerplay score: 43
Win % batting 1st vs batting 2nd: 46% / 54%

**Team form KKR vs RR**

![Screen Shot 2022-04-18 at 08.00.46.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/talesfrmthecrypt/48bWuQV9VzAbn8EQRuDkrD3H4sZwHCuQ6rYBwZPcPSqf6kHYeahotcnevZj2TNeCdR.png)

KKR – LLLLL
RR – LWWWL
Recent meetings: RR won by 7 runs

### KKR vs RR Preview

Having started the tournament with 3 wins from their opening 4 games this Kolkata side are now in disarray following 5 defeats in a row and it would take a turn around of monumental proportions to see them back to challenging for a play-off position. 

The top order has simply not fired despite KKR trying a variety of different combinations. In fact, it's that lack of consistency in selection that is now having a major impact on the team with the frequent chopping and changing leaving the whole batting line-up unsure of what their roles are within this team. 

|Batsman|Runs|Average|Strike Rate|
|-|-|-|-|
|Rahane|80|16|100|
|V Iyer|109|21.8|98.2|
|Finch|68|22.7|170|
|Billings|4|4|100|
|Narine|5|2.5|100|

*IPL 2022 stats for all KKR's opening batsmen*

In total then KKR's openers this season have added a meagre 266 runs between them which can be put into stark contrast by the achievements of the current Orange Cap holder, Jos Buttler who will be looking to add to his tally of 566 runs here today. 

Buttler is of course hunting down a couple Virat Kohli's records including most runs in an IPL season (973) and most centuries in an IPL season (4) both which were achieved by the former RCB and Indian captain in IPL 2016. 

However, Buttler didn't have it all his own way against Mumbai Indians during the previous match and looked fairly becalmed on a sluggish DY Patil wicket until he hit 4 consecutive sixes off the young offie. In fact, Buttler can feel aggrieved that the 5th ball of that over wasn't called a wide (it should have been) before he was then dismissed to the final ball of an eventful over. 

[![lotta.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/talesfrmthecrypt/23xp8hdwWxZoDs35BA45wdFWqx2JDMtb4EjKm4KmeqzHEU4BoYsyBAm7Uh7tMhfC2exQG.png)](https://media.lsbetmed.com/redirect.aspx?pid=5893947&bid=13324)

In general though it was a scratchy performance from the Royals who dropped some of chances, missed a few run outs and had Sanju Samson make a couple of poor calls as captain. The decision for example to bowl Darryl Mitchell in the 7th over having just dismissed Ishan Kishan and having Mumbai's 2 form players of IPL 2022 in Tilak Varma and Sky at crease seemed both bizarre and ultimately costly as Mumbai took control of the match from that point on. 

Rajasthan will hope to invoke the kind of destruction their batsmen rain downed on the Dehli Capitals attack during their last visit to the Wankhede while for KKR, this has proved to be a pitch that their bowlers have had great success on. 

What they need of course is their batsmen to put sufficient runs on the board for their attack to have a chance but at the very least, KKR can take some comfort from the fact that the only time they've passed 180 in this season's IPL was against this Rajasthan attack at the Brabourne Stadium when their total of 210 was just shy of the mark in pulling off what would have been a remarkable run chase. 

### KKR vs RR head to head

**RR bowling vs KKR batting**

The Wankhede is a wicket that requires due care and attention during the powerplay in order for sides to cash in on shorter boundaries later in the game. 

Venkatesh Iyer looked like a long-term fixture at the top of the KKR order following his heroics in the UAE last year but he's struggled so far in IPL 2022 where the pitches have had more pace, bounce and movement for the new ball bowlers. The Wankhede is perhaps the prime example of these kind of conditions and as a result the flat footed Iyer has struggled. 


![Screen Shot 2022-05-01 at 18.48.49.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/talesfrmthecrypt/23uQfXwfF3hQettYvd2FKcodg34GdUqCkEDYkgimmLT1WULVnK4AN2qjRD72SEwFeiSiW.png)

*Vekatesh Iyer career stats at the Wankhede*

Of course KKR could opt to drop Venkatesh down the order again but then if they do that who is going to open (see above)? 

If it's Aaron Finch then Prasidh Krishna might fancy his chances of adding to the couple of times that he's dismissed the Australian in the past including the last time the teams met but surely Finch's greatest weakness is against wrist-spin with a career average of just 20 against making a potential match-up against purple cap holder Chahal a certainty should he survive the powerplay. 


![Screen Shot 2022-05-01 at 19.00.41.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/talesfrmthecrypt/23vsC4wxjWqnhgFyPiUFz2jKaVRy6chT8ZFKELVbGp9zGZHn8o8LmCoLDP1scz8z2fX1Z.png)

*Finch T20 career stats vs wrist spin*

Ravi Ashwin did Andre Russell with an absolute beauty of a delivery the last time these 2 teams met but it's interesting how few balls either Ashwin or any right-arm finger spinner has bowled at the big Jamaican across his career. 

No doubt this is down to the common theory that right-handed batsmen hit off-spin bowlers with ease but Russell's record against Ashwin and all off-spinners is far from brilliant. In fact, against all types of bowling, Russell's strike rate is lowest against right arm finger spin (123.4)  which is some step down considering he hits all other spin at a rate of 144.3 while pace goes at a whopping 184.5. 


![Screen Shot 2022-05-01 at 19.15.32.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/talesfrmthecrypt/23u5b6gDGNm22eo62Tp9TXnRB2p2CnWX7f25LUj7j3oY4aKZ8YSebbSg8HgM28teu79Vr.png)

*Ashwin vs Russell T20 head to head*

Perhaps the simple fact that less than 7% of the deliveries he's faced across his long T20 career have come from right arm finger spinners is contributing to the drop in numbers. 

 
**KKR bowling vs RR batting**

Umesh Yadav continues to prove a handful at the Wankhede as I suggested in a previous KKR preview. That being said, Buttler treated him and the entire KKR attack with distain when these sides last met at the Brabourne. 

In fact, the only bowler that Buttler didn't go after was Sunil Narine who he and his Rajasthan colleagues were happy to see off while feasting on what was being dished up from the other end. 


![Screen Shot 2022-05-01 at 19.24.00.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/talesfrmthecrypt/EoEo7EVp8rA3R8rDzb8SS623mmcdh6Rv4e7MhdC8L4R2THfJcYtTWE6EVSCRBk9rK68.png)

*Narine vs Buttler T20 head to head*

KKR opted against playing a wrist spinner in their defeat to DC at the Wankhede last week and ultimately made up their 5th bowler from the likes of Nitesh Rana and Shreyas Iyer who bowled his first over in IPL cricket in what was his 96th match! 

Against a side that has been clinical against the weak links in the opposition attack, surely KKR will need to ensure they have the fire power to limit this Rajasthan batting line-up in much the same way that Mumbai did at the weekend. 

[![lotta.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/talesfrmthecrypt/23xp8hdwWxZoDs35BA45wdFWqx2JDMtb4EjKm4KmeqzHEU4BoYsyBAm7Uh7tMhfC2exQG.png)](https://media.lsbetmed.com/redirect.aspx?pid=5893947&bid=13324)

*All stats used in this blog are from my own database. Images are my own with the exception of [player profiles](https://www.iplt20.com/) and [background images](https://pixabay.com/images/search/cricket%20stadium/) which are used under a [creative commons license](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en) or otherwise royalty free*