We'll keep it brief because this is the second game of the day. Aside from a couple of games this season, Kolkata has been a high-scoring venue. So, unless we learn something different during the toss and pitch report, we will also build our XI for a flat deck.
If the deck is along the expected lines, the KKR batters come into their own. Jason Roy and Nitish Rana, in particular, have an excellent chance to make a mark today, whilst Venkatesh Iyer and Rahmanullah Gurbaz will need to escape Mohsin Khan and Krunal Pandya, respectively, to create an impact.
Krunal Pandya not bowling himself in the powerplay might provide enough relief for Gurbaz early on. Venkatesh Iyer, on the other hand, has shown a clear vulnerability against left-arm pace early in the innings and would be hoping to avoid facing Mohsin Khan in the first 4 overs.
One of Rinku Singh or Andre Russell will be negatively impacted today as the top four are expected to play out a significant amount of deliveries. Russell has also bowled only two overs in the past four games, making this a difficult selection.
The LSG overseas quartet of Quinton de Kock, Kyle Mayers, Nicholas Pooran, and Marcus Stoinis, on the other hand, has traditionally struggled against Sunil Narine, but it remains to be seen if that is still the case against this version of Narine on what is likely to be a flat deck. Don't allow what happened in Chepauk on a spin-friendly deck to make you overestimate his impact.
While KKR may not be able to stop the LSG batting superstars with just Narine, they may be able to do so with the help of Varun Chakravarthy and Suyash Sharma.
We do expect LSG to reintroduce Kyle Mayers into the playing XI since they may not consider KKR's batting unit as challenging as MI's to warrant an international bowler in Naveen-ul-Haq.
Final Fantasy XI (Dream XI - Safeplay)
WK: Q de Kock (C), N Pooran, R Gurbaz
BAT: J Roy, N Rana (VC), V Iyer
AR: S Narine, A Russell, M Stoinis
BOWL: V Chakrvarthy, R Bishnoi
Final Fantasy XI (Dream XI - Nuclear, employed by @Indianmourinho)
WK: Q de Kock, N Pooran, R Gurbaz
BAT: J Roy (C), N Rana (VC), V Iyer
AR: S Narine, A Russell, M Stoinis
BOWL: V Chakrvarthy, R Bishnoi
Final Fantasy XI (3 BAT-3 BOWL Platforms with no points for Impact Player)
WK: Q de Kock, R Gurbaz
BAT: J Roy(C), N Rana (VC), V Iyer
AR: S Narine, A Russell, M Stoinis
BOWL: V Chakrvarthy, R Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq
Predictions:
Pre-toss: None
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