RR vs KKR Highlights, IPL 2024, Match 70 in Guwahati: Match abandoned due to rain despite toss taking place

Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders highlights: The match between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders was on Sunday abandoned without a ball being bowled. The toss could not take place in Guwahati at the scheduled time of 7 pm IST due to a slight drizzle, but that turned out to be a heavy downpour as steady rain postponed the toss by more than three hours.

At around 10.35 pm IST, the toss finally took place with KKR winning it and opting to field. The match was scheduled to be a seven-over affair and just as the players were due to make their way out, rain made its return in Guwahati. The result means both KKR and RR share a point each.

Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders preview: Rajasthan Royals take on Kolkata Knight Riders in the final league stage game of the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) season in Guwahati on Sunday. Both RR and KKR have qualified for the IPL playoffs, with KKR having sealed the top spot in the standings. RR, though, will have to beat KKR and hope SRH lose to Punjab Kings in the earlier game in order to make the top two.

Having said that, the Royals are winless in four games, with their last win coming against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on 27 April.

RR will once again miss the services of star England batter Jos Buttler, who has flown back to England to prepare for the 2024 T20 World Cup that starts from 1 June. RR were without Buttler in their five-wicket defeat to Punjab Kings on 15 May, with uncapped England cricketer Tom Kohler-Cadmore replacing him at the top of the batting order. Kohler-Cadmore, however, had a disappointing outing, having scored just 18 off 23 deliveries in what was his IPL debut.

Another concerning factor for RR is Yashasvi Jaiswal’s form. Despite an unbeaten century against Mumbai Indians (MI) and a fifty against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), it’s been a rather disappointing season for the opener, who has racked up 348 runs from 13 matches.

Much will be expected from Sandeep Sharma and Yuzvendra Chahal, who will look to go that extra mile as far as RR’s bowling attack is concerned.

Meanwhile, Rahmanullah Gurbaz looks set to open for KKR along with Sunil Narine, with Phil Salt having returned to England. This will be KKR’s first match without Salt, and it will be interesting to see how the Afghanistan cricketer turns up in the powerplay overs.

Squads:

RR: Sanju Samson (C), Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Prasidh Krishna, Navdeep Saini, Avesh Khan (Traded from LSG), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Kuldeep Sen, Sandeep Sharma, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Kunal Singh Rathore, Jos Buttler, Trent Boult, Adam Zampa, Shimron Hetmyer, Donovan Ferreira, Rovman Powell, Shubham Dubey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Abid Mushtaq, Nandre Burger

KKR: Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shreyas Iyer (C), Jason Roy, Sunil Narine, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, KS Bharat, Chetan Sakariya, Mitchell Starc, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey