Kolkata seeks to bounce back against Royals after two losses

Mumbai: Kolkata was beaten by Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad by 44 runs and seven wickets respectively in its last two matches. It had earlier lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore.

With three wins and three losses, Kolkata is at the mid-table while the Royals has won three matches and lost two games till now.

Kolkata had an impressive start to the league with three wins from four matches but the back-to-back losses had taken it down below the top-4 and it would look to regain that slot.

But to do that it will have to pull itself up in both batting and bowling. None of the batters, except for Andre Russell, has been consistent so far while the likes of spinner Varun Chakravarthy and pacer Pat Cummins have dished out average performances.

Russell is the current top-scorer for Kolkata with 179 runs from six matches and has also contributed with five wickets with the ball.

Captain Shreyas lyer has not been in the best of form with just one half-century in his name for a total of 151 runs in six matches, Nitesh Rana and Venkatesh Iyer have been lacking in consistency, while Sam Billings is struggling to get runs. In the bowling department, none, except pacer Umesh Yadav (10 wickets from 6 matches) has been up to expectations.

Chakravarthy, Kolkata’s highest wicket-taker last season, has been struggling big time with just four wickets from six matches.