IPL 2018, RR vs KKR: 5 players battles to look forward to between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders

#3 Shreyas Gopal v Nitish Rana

Nitish Rana

KKR’s number 4, Nitish Rana, has been one of the tournament’s better batsmen so far for the side. He has made 127 runs so far in 4 games, at an average of 31.75 and a strike-rate of 141.30. The left-hander is in fine form and is going to be one of the key players for the visitors this evening. He is equally at ease against both pace and spin and hence, it would be interesting to see how he negotiates the leg-spin bowling of Shreyas Gopal.

The leg-spinner is a very clever bowler and many have found it quite difficult to hit out against him. In the previous game against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Gopal took the wickets of AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli to pull the game in RR’s favour. He gave away only 22 runs and conceded just one four and one six during the course of a run fest. On the other hand, Rana would like to go after him from the start and their contest could go a long way in deciding the course of the middle overs in the KKR innings.