KKR v RR Prediction: Who will win today's IPL 2020 match

The race for the IPL 2020 playoffs places has never been this close. When the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) take on the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Match 54 of IPL 2020, the winner is not guaranteed a place in the top 4, but the team that loses make their way out of the tournament.

Both these teams have seen plenty of ups and downs over the course of the season. While the Royals started their season well at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, things fell apart soon after.

Two wins in two games became two wins in six games, and Steve Smith’s men were only a shadow of the team that put the Chennai Super Kings and the Kings XI Punjab to the sword at the start of the tournament.

While Ben Stokes’ return to the fold and promotion to the top of the order proved to be a boost to the RR squad, they failed to capitalise right away. The last couple of games, however, have seen the English all-rounder at his monstrous best.

Consecutive Man-of-the-Match performances against the Mumbai Indians and the Kings XI Punjab showed why he is considered among the best in the world at what he does, despite his history of struggle with the T20 format. The only non-Indian with a century at IPL 2020 has become the face RR’s late charge for the playoff places.

KKR, on the other hand, seemed almost locked in for the top 4 with four wins in their first six matches. Things began to fall apart soon after, however, and a change in captaincy did not help their cause either. Two wins in seven matches later, KKR find themselves languishing in eighth, and desperate for a win to keep them in contention for the top four places going into the final round of IPL 2020 fixtures.

That said, the recent return to form of all-rounder Nitish Rana would be heartening for the Knights. 80+ scores on either side of a duck against the Kings XI will encourage the most sceptical of KKR fans after a season that was mostly spent walking back to the pavilion with single-digit scores.

With a defeat guaranteeing an IPL 2020 exit, both teams will, first and foremost, want to avoid just that. However, given that their place in the top four will almost certainly come down to net run rate, the two captains will also have an eye on the margin of victory, given their NRR.

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IPL 2020: KKR v RR Match Prediction

Ben Stokes will be crucial to RR's hopes of advancing to the knockout stages of the tournament.

The last time these two teams faced each other, three graduates from the Indian squad at the IPL 2018 U19 World Cup turned heroes as the Kolkata-based franchise ran out winners by 37 runs.

Shubman Gill scored a well-paced 47 as KKR put 174 up on the board after being asked to bat first. RR, in response, slumped to a meek 137/9 in their 20 overs. This time it was the turn of two young pacers to do the damage for the Knights.

While Kamlesh Nagarkoti picked up his first-ever IPL wickets, Shivam Mavi knocked over two of RR’s most dangerous batsmen at the time in Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson, and earned the Man of the Match award, in the process.

The Knight Riders will hope to arrest that decline in form with a victory here, and one that they hope will take them over the line in terms of a place in next week’s eliminator. And in spite of their recent struggles, the KKR team management would have been encouraged by the performances of Varun Chakravarthy and Nitish Rana. The Shahrukh Khan-owned team will be hopeful of a match-winning performance from one of them, if not for both.

That said, a victory and a place in the top four for the Royals cannot be ruled simply because of two words: Ben Stokes.

Prediction: RR to win today’s match.