IPL 2022: KKR win toss, opt to bowl first

Apr 18, 2022

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 18 : Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to bowl first against Rajasthan Royals here at the Brabourne Stadium on Monday.
Kolkata Knight Riders are placed in the sixth spot with three wins and three losses. The inaugural champions lost their previous match to Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets. The Shreyas Iyer led side have made one change as Shivam Mavi comes in for Aman Khan.
Rajasthan Royals are placed in the fifth spot with three wins and two losses. The inaugural champions lost their previous match to Gujarat Titans by 37 runs. The Sanju Samson led side has made three changes as Karun Nair, Obed McCoy and Trent Boult come in for Rassie van der Dussen, Kuldeep Sen and Jimmy Neesham.
"We'll bowl first. The wicket looks amazing and hard. One side seems short and one is long, so that's another reason why we want to chase. It's something we thrive on. We just practise a lot in the nets, we've seen the videos and have had chats in the meetings. Important to execute what we've discussed in the meetings. We've got one change - Shivam Mavi comes in for Aman Khan. They (overseas stars) have been excellent for KKR in recent years, it's gonna be important for us that they perform but also the domestic players need to step up," said Kolkata Knight Riders captain Shreyas Iyer.
"We would have also liked to bowl first, but need to be ready to do both. Our team is well set to do both. New venue for us, and we need to understand conditions quickly. Everyone has to contribute to whatever is the team's requirement, the talk is always about understanding the situation and being smarter. Everyone is looking to contribute, but failures are accepted. We're looking forward with a positive mindset," said Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson.
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Venkatesh Iyer, Aaron Finch, Shreyas Iyer(c), Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Sheldon Jackson(w), Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Shivam Mavi, Umesh Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy.
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson(w/c), Karun Nair, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Obed McCoy and Yuzvendra Chahal.