IPL 2018 KXIP vs KKR: 5 player battles to look forward to between Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders

#2 Ankit Rajpoot v Chris Lynn

Ankit Rajpoot

KKR’s star opening batsman Chris Lynn has been in poor form of late and has failed to get the team off to fast starts in the Powerplays. However, he must take heart from the fact that his best innings in the tournament (74 off 41, 6 fours, 4 sixes) came against KXIP and he would definitely like to repeat that performance in the game at Indore.

If he does get going, then KXIP will have a long afternoon on their hands and hence, it is the opening battle with Ankit Rajpoot that could well set the tone on how the KKR innings is going to pan out.

The Australian likes to play against pace and Ankit Rajpoot offers a lot of that. However, in addition to his pace, the tall pacer has also proven to be a clever bowler and his clever changes of lengths have often proven to be extremely effective.

In 5 games, he has only gone for 8.05 an over and he has the chance of snuffing out KKR’s designate power-hitter early on. Conversely, Lynn would not take a backward step and that’s what makes it such an interesting battle.