IPL 2025: RR vs KKR Match Preview, Match 6

The Rajasthan Royals (RR) and the defending champions of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), will face each other for their second encounter. The RR vs KKR fixture will take place on March 26, 2025, at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati.

Both teams are coming on the back of their poor performances in the opening game. Kolkata started with a defeat against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the opening clash of the league at the Eden Gardens. One of the biggest issues for them in the contest was the middle-over collapse that ruled them out of the contest.

For Rajasthan Royals, their bowlers would be pretty happy to be out of the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). The Royals leaked 286 runs in the allotted 20 overs, as Jofra Archer registered his name with the worst bowling figure of 0/76 in his four overs, going past Mohit Sharma’s 0/73.

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Going into the RR vs KKR fixture, both sides will hope to register their opening victory at the Barsapara Stadium. For the Royals, they can talk about the good work they put in with the bat in the second innings against the Sunrisers. Sanju Samson, coming as the impact player, managed 66 runs in 37 balls, while wicket-keeper Dhruv Jurel smacked 70 runs at a strike rate of 35.

Knight Riders will be boosted, by the fiery batting show from their new captain, Ajinkya Rahane, who drilled 56 runs in just 31 deliveries at number three. Sunil Narine also contributed with 44 runs in 26 balls at a strike rate of around 170, thanks to five boundaries and three over boundaries.

But their biggest struggle was in the middle over. Venkatesh Iyer collected just six runs in seven deliveries, while Rinky Singh got 12 runs in 10 balls. Andre Russell was foxed by the googly of Suyash Sharma to find his stumps being broken on four individual runs.

IPL 2025: RR vs KKR Preview Match 6

Kolkata may not look to make many changes in the squad. They have retained most of their core players from last season and that will be a sign of trust in those players. It was a surprising decision from the management to go with Vaibhav Arora as an impact player, despite having Anukul Roy as the option.

For the Royals, it was a tough day in the office for Riyan Parag as the new leader for the first three games. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Nitish Rana couldn’t contribute much with the bat but will remain hopeful of coming up with a better show in the RR vs KKR clash.

Quite surprisingly, the management went with Mahesh Theekshana ahead of Wanindu Hasaranga in the side. They may replace the mystery spinner with the leg-spinner for the second game against the three-time champions in the RR vs KKR fixture.

RR vs KKR Playing XIs

Rajasthan Royals

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Nitish Rana, Riyan Parah (c), Dhruv Jurel (wk.), Shimron Hetmyer, Jofra Archer, Mahesh Theekshana/ Wanindu Hasaranga, Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Sharma. Fazalhaq Farooqi

Impact Subs: Sanju Samson.

Kolkata Knight Riders

Quinton de Kock (wk.), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Spencer Johson/Anrich Nortje, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy.

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Impact Subs: Vaibhav Arora, Anukul Roy.

RR vs KKR Key Battles

• Sanju Samson has managed only 66 T20 runs against Sunil Narine in 82 balls at a strike rate of 80.5, besides getting dismissed thrice.
• Shimron Hetmyer is yet to score a T20 run against Jofra Archer in five balls.
• Ajinkya Rahane has lost his wicker twice in T20s against Sandeep Sharma, smashing 75 runs in 79 balls at a strike rate of 94.90.