Big picture - RR's balance, KKR's middle order in focus
Guwahati has been an occasional home ground for Rajasthan Royals (RR) since 2023, but they've found little to cheer about here. RR have lost two of their three games here, while a fourth was a washout. But come Wednesday, there'll be a different buzz because the city's own Riyan Parag will captain RR - a historic occasion for the player and his state Assam.
But Parag has a lot to ponder, more so after RR nearly conceded the highest IPL total ever against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). The retained trio of Sanju Samson, Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer brought the batting muscle on a flat deck and rookie Shubham Dubey dazzled too, but when the bowlers leaked runs, Parag found himself out of options.
He is designated as an allrounder, and would like to consider himself one too, but did not bowl, even though he tried Nitish Rana's occasional offspin for one over. RR missed a genuine allrounder who could be their fifth or sixth bowler without sacrificing their batting.
This isn't an issue on good days, and RR have reached the playoffs in two of the last three seasons with a similar team balance, but on bad days it can leave them with nowhere to turn. A shuffle, such as finding a place for Wanindu Hasaranga or Parag trusting himself to bowl, could be the answer with their bowling looking to regain confidence.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the defending champions, have versatile all-rounders aplenty. The defeat in their season-opener against Royal Challengers Bengaluru won't shift them from their 2024 template, but their old middle and lower-middle order - consisting of Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh and Ramandeep Singh - contributed very little as KKR endured a below-par finish with the bat.
Like RR's bowlers against SRH, this area won't always be an issue for KKR, but twice in a row could put them in early trouble, with Mumbai Indians awaiting them at the Wankhede next.
The contest on Wednesday will be all about two teams looking to iron out their problems and find their first points.
New loyalties - Nitish Rana
From 2018 to 2024, Nitish Rana scored 2199 runs for KKR and became one of their senior players after being elevated to vice-captaincy. He was not one of the six players retained by the franchise after last season's title and was signed by RR for INR 4.20 crore.
Team news and likely XIIs - Will Hasaranga come in?
Samson, recovering following finger surgery, is set to be RR's impact player again. They are unlikely to drop Jofra Archer despite his 0 for 76 against SRH, the worst IPL figures of all time, but could look at bringing in Akash Madhwal for his yorker-bowling capabilities. Since Maheesh Theekshana usually bowls in the powerplay and KKR have spin-basher Sunil Narine as opener, he could be swapped out for Hasaranga.
Rajasthan Royals: 1 Sanju Samson, 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Riyan Parag (capt), 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Dhruv Jurel (wk), 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Shubham Dubey, 8 Jofra Archer, 9 Maheesh Theekshana/Wanindu Hasaranga, 10 Sandeep Sharma, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi, 12 Tushar Deshpande/Akash Madhwal.
KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane said after Saturday's loss that he trusts his fast-bowling unit even if they are relatively inexperienced. They'll most likely stay unchanged although Anrich Nortje is a potential replacement for Spencer Johnson if they think pace and short balls could make more of an impact than swing.
Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Ajinkya Rahane (capt), 4 Venkatesh Iyer, 5 Angkrish Raghuvanshi, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Ramandeep Singh, 9 Harshit Rana, 10 Spencer Johnson/Anrich Nortje, 11 Varun Chakravarthy, 12 Vaibhav Arora.
The big question
It wasn't that long ago that Hasaranga was the world's No. 1 T20I bowler on the ICC rankings and he's still at No. 4. He isn't carrying an injury, so he was most likely left out for tactical reasons against SRH. Should RR find a way to involve Hasaranga?
In the spotlight: Dhruv Jurel and Quinton de Kock
Dhruv Jurel struck a 35-ball 70 against SRH, showing why RR trusted him with a retention and why he's India's current back-up T20I wicketkeeper, despite the wealth of options for that spot. RR look a bit short this season when bridging the gap between their top-order and lower-order hitters, and his role at No. 5 is important. He has superb T20 numbers against pace, as a strike rate of 162.56 would suggest, but he's tended not to score as quickly against spin, going at 123.76 at this stage of his career. Against SRH, he fell to Adam Zampa and scored three runs off seven balls against the legspinner; how will he deal with the twin threats of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy?
Last year, Rahmanullah Gurbaz was the highest run-scorer at the T20 World Cup, was named as opener in ICC's ODI team of the year, and was a superb replacement for Phil Salt in the playoffs and final during KKR's winning campaign. Despite this, KKR picked Quinton de Kock as their first-choice wicketkeeper-opener this season. It's time for de Kock to come good on the opportunity, especially since he's not had a good time since his international retirement. IPL 2024 was his second-worst of all time (average of 22.72 in 11 games), while he managed just 159 runs in 10 innings at the SA20. De Kock has a tendency to be hit-or-miss, and with another hit-or-miss opener in Narine at the other end, KKR would want some reliability from one end.
Key stats
Archer has come into IPL 2025 on a poor run of form. When he keeps things quiet, he doesn't get wickets. When he gets the wickets, he's mightily expensive. In the 2024-25 season that just went by, Archer averaged 34.75 with an economy rate of 9.26.
The average first-innings score in IPL games at the Barsapara Stadium is 180, with the team batting first having won twice and lost once.
At 23 years and 133 days, Parag became the IPL's fourth-youngest captain when he led RR against SRH. Virat Kohli (22y 187d), Steven Smith (22y 344d) and Suresh Raina (23y 112d) are the three above him on the list.
Narine has a strike-rate of 191.30 against Sandeep Sharma (44 runs in 23 balls, one dismissal) but has been kept quiet by both Archer (9 off 13) and Fazalhaq Farooqi (3 off 8 with one dismissal) in the past.
Hasaranga's wrong'un makes him a compelling option for RR with Russell averaging only 9.25 against googlies in the IPL (since 2022) and striking at only 115.63, according to ESPNcricinfo's data. Against legbreaks, though, he crunches them at 153.70 and averages 41.50.
Pitch and conditions
The last time a RR vs KKR game was scheduled in Guwahati, it was a washout, but Wednesday promises to be dry. The Barsapara Stadium has been excellent for batting with three scores in the 190s in the IPL. India once scored 237 for 3 here and South Africa struck 221 for 3 in response, so we could see the first 200-plus IPL score in Guwahati on Wednesday.
Next three fixtures
RR stay in Guwahati to face Chennai Super Kings (CSK) next on Sunday, March 30, before travelling to Mullanpur to face Punjab Kings (PBKS) on April 5 and then to Ahmedabad where Gujarat Titans (GT) await them on April 9.
KKR travel to Mumbai next to play MI on March 31, after which they return home for games against SRH on April 3 and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on April 6.
Quotes
"It's been a journey. I was here when I was 17 years old. Most importantly, me being captain is secondary, but the trust that the management have shown in me, that's one of the biggest points. That's one of the biggest upvotes that I take personally as a player that they're trusting me enough to lead the team and trusting me enough to make my own decisions."
Riyan Parag on his leadership role at RR
"Sport is about failing. You fail more often than you succeed. But for a champion like Russ [Russell], it must be weighing on his mind that he failed last game. He's out to prove every single game. We are also hoping Russ would come really good on this game."
KKR bowling coach Bharat Arun feels a Russell comeback is just around the corner
