3 player battles to watch out for in KKR vs LSG, Match 21 of IPL 2025 ft. Rishabh Pant

The 21st match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 will see the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) lock horns with the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Tuesday, April 8. The iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata will host this rescheduled contest, which was initially slated to be played on April 6.

KKR are currently placed fifth on the table with four points from as many matches and an NRR of +0.070. They thrashed the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 80 runs in their previous game and will be oozing with confidence heading into the LSG contest.

Lucknow are placed just below Kolkata on the points table, with both sides separated by NRR. The Super Giants eked out a close win over the Mumbai Indians (MI) in their previous outing and will look to make it two wins in a row tonight.

Meanwhile, the upcoming fixture between KKR and LSG will present a lot of interesting matchups. On that note, we take a look at three of those.

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3 player battles to watch out for in KKR vs LSG

#1 Rishabh Pant vs Varun Chakravarthy

The LSG skipper has had a horrendous start to his IPL 2025 campaign, aggregating only 19 runs in four matches at an average of below 5.00. His form has been a cause of concern for the team.

As Rishabh Pant looks to bounce back with the bat, he will be challenged by KKR's mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy. The Tamil Nadu-born cricketer has picked up six wickets in four matches so far this year.

Chakravarthy also enjoys an excellent record against Pant in T20s, dismissing him thrice in 30 balls while conceding only 31 runs.

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#2 Nicholas Pooran vs Sunil Narine

The West Indian cricketer has been in devastating form with the bat in IPL 2025. Nicholas Pooran is currently the highest run scorer in the tournament with 201 runs in four games at an average of 50.25, including two half-centuries. He has smashed 18 boundaries and 16 sixes so far.

KKR's main aim would be to dismiss Pooran cheaply, and for that, they might unleash Sunil Narine whenever the left-handed batter walks out to bat.

The KKR veteran is one of the few spinners who have managed to keep Pooran in check, with the latter scoring only 171 runs off 150 balls while getting out twice. Kolkata will want Narine to continue his dream run against his compatriot.

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#3 Digvesh Rathi vs Ajinkya Rahane

The young Lucknow spinner has impressed one and all with his performances early in his IPL career. Digvesh Rathi has scalped six wickets in four matches at an excellent economy rate of 7.62.

The youngster will be up against a more seasoned campaigner in Ajinkya Rahane, who is coming on the back of a quickfire 38 (27) against Hyderabad. The duo will look to dominate each other in the middle overs, and this duel might very well decide the outcome of this contest.