IPL 2025: KKR Playing XI vs RR- Match 6

The Kolkata Knight Riders, who finished with their third title in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season, faced a daunting defeat in the opening game of the 2024 edition against the Rajasthan Royals at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati.

Kolkata has an issue with the opening slot as Quinton de Kock looked out of touch in the opening game, while Andre Russell, Rinku Singh and Venkatesh Iyer struggled in the middle order of the batting line-up.

IPL 2025: KKR Playing XI vs RR- Match 6

Openers: Quinton de Kock (wk.) and Sunil Narine

The two openers for the KKR franchise could hardly put a bat on the ball in the first three overs of the innings. De Kock also got new life thanks to the dropped catch against Josh Hazlewood, who eventually sent the South African batter back into the hut.

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Yash Dayal started well against Sunil Narine. The West Indies southpaw could be a huge threat for the opponents after scoring over 400 runs at a strike rate of more than 150 in the previous edition of the tournament.

Narine struggled at the start for KKR against the short ball before contributing 44 runs in 26 deliveries, shouldering on five boundaries and three sixes at a strike rate of 169.23. His 103-run partnership with Ajinkya Rahane for the second innings laid a strong platform for the purple franchise.

Middle order- Ajinkya Rahane (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh

When Ajinkya came into the middle, the entire batting department of the KKR side was under pressure. But the Mumbai-born broke the jail and nailed a few big shots to put the pressure back on the Royal Challengers Bengaluru bowlers. He finished with 56 runs in 31 balls at a strike rate of 180.65.

That will be a huge boost for the KKR owners, who shouldered the leadership responsibility on the veteran. Venkatesh Iyer couldn’t contribute enough at the required moment, while Rinku Singh went back to the pavilion with just 12 runs in 10 deliveries.

Angkrish Raghuvanshi smacked 30 runs in 22 deliveries at a strike rate of 136.36, thanks to two fours and one six. One of the shots he played for KKR was full of quality. Andre Russell couldn’t read Suyash Sharma’s googly, as they collapsed to 150.6 from 125/3 in less than four overs.

It was Raghuvanshi, who kept them in the hunt and carried them to the 174-run mark in 20 overs. In place of Ramandeep Singh, KKR can think of adding Mannish Pandey to the playing eleven.

Bowlers: Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Spencer Johnson, Vaibhav Arora (Impact)

Harshit Rana, who was in great tough, came quite late into the attack, by when the RCB side was flying with 75 runs in five overs and had almost killed the entire momentum of the game. Virat Kohli couldn’t allow Varun Chakravarthy to make an impact in the game.

Spencer Johson looked ordinary in the clash and that means the KKR management can think of bringing in the expressive pace of Anrich Nortje for his place. It was another surprise that the purple side went with Vaibhav Arora, who ended figures of 1/42 in three overs.

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Anukul Roy's spin could have been the best option with the new ball against both the RCB openers.

KKR Predicted Playing XI vs RR- IPL 2025, Match 6

Quinton de Kock (wk.), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh/ Manish Pandey, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Spencer Johnson.

Impact Sub: Vaibhav Arora/ Anukul Roy.