KKR seeks home comfort against Mayank Yadav-less Lucknow

KOLKATA: Two-time champion Kolkata Knight Riders will seek home comfort in its bid to return to winning ways when it faces a depleted Lucknow Super Giants in an Indian Premier League match here on Sunday.

The match will be KKR’s first of the five matches at home on the trot and the Gautam Gambhir-mentored side will be fully aware this can prove decisive to clinch the play-off spot for the first time since 2021.

In the points tally, nothing separates the two teams, both of whom have secured three wins each, and lost their respective last-round matches.

KKR’s over-reliance on its Caribbean ageing duo of Sunil Narine and Andre Russell was exposed by defending champion Chennai Super Kings when it lost by seven wickets in its previous outing.

Narine (27) and Russell (10) failed with the bat and the team, who had posted two 200-plus scores from three matches on the back of the Caribbean duo’s blazing form, could manage an under par 137/9 at Chennai.

That sums up KKR’s batting that has relied on some odd fireworks and missed an anchor in the absence of Nitish Rana (finger injury), who is slated to sit out of another match.

In the spotlight since the beginning of the season, KKR captain Shreyas Iyer has failed to impress and his scores give an abysmal picture -- 0, 39 not out, 18 and 34. Its another designated batter Venkatesh Iyer has three single digit scores this season to go with one odd fifty against Royal Challengers Bengaluru and the team, it seems, doesn’t have a clear role for him.

From batting at No. 3 in its IPL opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Iyer was seen in the finisher’s role at No. 7 and No. 5 in its last two matches.

Ramandeep Singh also had a lean run after an impressive 35 against SRH.

The 2022 U-19 World Cup winning Angkrish Raghuvanshi has impressed the most following his 54 against Delhi Capitals. And he would like to return among runs after failing to convert his start against CSK. The most-talked about signing Mitchell Starc’s poor form with the ball has been the talk of the town.

The Aussie speed gun has an economy of 11.00 and took his first wicket of this IPL against DC after giving away 100 runs in the first two matches. Having come as Impact Subs, left-arm orthodox spinner Anukul Roy has been impressive and he would like to forge formidable partnership with Narine.

While KKR will be overwhelming favourite at Eden, LSG with its unassuming approach will not give up easily, even as it will miss its pace sensation Mayank Yadav for a second successive match.

Recovering from a side strain that ruled him out of its match against Gujarat Titans, Mayank is doing “good” but skipper KL Rahul has said that he may take “a couple of more games before coming back”.

Mayank’s replacement Arshad Khan failed to impress, conceding at 10.73 runs over as it failed to defend 167 at home against DC.

Mohsin Khan, who claimed 2/34 against Punjab Kings, could be a perfect replacement but it remains to be seen if he’s fully recovered from his hamstring injury that had sidelined the left-arm pacer.