IPL 2018, KKR v RR: 5 players battles to look forward to

#2 Dinesh Karthik v Jofra Archer

Jofra Archer

The KKR captain is now the team’s highest run-scorer with an aggregate of 371 runs but more importantly, Dinesh Karthik has scored those runs at a scorching strike rate of 154.58. In the previous game, he made a 23 ball 50 (5 fours, 3 sixes) as KKR piled up a record 245 against Kings XI Punjab. His performance at number 5 is crucial to the KKR batting effort and it is the final thrust that he provides in the slog over that makes him such a dangerous player.

However, tonight he will come up against one of the finest T20 fast bowlers in the world in RR’s Jofra Archer and that is a contest that everyone will be looking forward to. Karthik’s improvisation and the ability to play attacking strokes all around the wicket makes him a batsman who is tough to contain. On the other hand, Archer’s varieties, pace, the spiteful bouncer and the inch-perfect yorkers make him a bowler who is very tough to hit out against. He started late due to an injury but since then he has picked up 13 wickets in only 7 games and that too at an economy rate of 7.90. Both these players have an epic battle on this hands when they run into each other tonight.