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The Knights will be hoping to go out all guns blazing in the final league match of the season as they host the Lucknow SuperGiants for the first time at the Eden Gardens.Needing a big win to improve the NRR and boost qualification hopes, the Knights have their task cut out against the side who are placed 3rd in the table.

Kolkata Knight Riders are renowned and believe in grooming young talents and helping them shine on the big stage. The two-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions have enabled several youngsters to rub shoulders with international stars, and many of them have even gone on to represent India at the international level. This year, too, the Knights have brought youngsters like Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana and Suyash Sharma to the fore, who have churned out impressive performances when given chances. Take Arora as an example. The young pacer played a key part in KKR’s six-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on May 14 (Sunday), which keeps them afloat in the ongoing TATA Indian Premier League (IPL).

In response, the Knights lost Gurbaz, Roy and Venkatesh early before Rinku and Rana took charge. The southpaws got together with the scoreboard reading 33/3 after 4.3 overs with the Kings on top and their 50000+ crowd rallying them on. But Rinku and Rana had other plans on the night as they absorbed the pressure admirably and stitched together a partnership that took the game away from the hosts. The duo were particularly impressive on how they took on the CSK spinners, giving them no wickets and scoring runs at a brisk rate to never give them a sniff in the game. The partnership of 99 runs was broken only by a direct hit from Moeen Ali as Rinku Singh fell short of his crease and returned to the pavilion for another well made fifty. Skipper Rana and Russell then ensured there were no more hiccups with the former top scoring on the night with a well made 57* of 44 balls. Speaking after the match, Skipper Rana credited all 3 departments for raising their game in this match. He particularly singled out Coach Pandit’s decision to use the heavy roller at the innings break which proved to be a gamechanger. Skipper Rana also added that the conversation between him and Rinku was that they had to hold fort at one end in order to chase the score down. Rinku Singh was awarded the Man of the Match for his 54 of 43 balls and said that when he joined Skipper Rana at the crease, the latter told him that this is a tough wicket to score runs and they had to be cautious. Rinku said that his experience in first class cricket helped him in this game as he is used to batting at no. 5 in such slow wickets where scoring can be difficult. With this memorable win on the road, the Knights go upto 6th in the table and will next host the Lucknow SuperGiants at the Eden Gardens on Saturday in the final league game of the season.

The Knights face the Super Kings in Chennai needing 2 points to stay in contention for a spot in the playoffs. The Knights are currently 8th in the table with 10 points while the Kings are 2nd with 15 points on the board. The two teams have faced each other 28 times in the past with the hosts winning on 18 occasions while the Knights coming out winners on 9. The most memorable encounter between the two for the Knights would be the 2012 final win at the Chepauk which gave us our maiden IPL trophy. The Knights will be hoping to draw every bit of inspiration ahead of the crunch game against the in form hosts. The wicket at the Chepauk has been great for sides batting first this season with several 200 plus scores being registered at the venue. However, on a couple of occasions the spinners have come into play as well and it will be interesting to see how the wicket plays out on Sunday. Varun Chakravarthy, the local boy could be a key figure as he has led the Knights attack admirably picking up 17 wickets so far this season at an average of 20.88. With 20 wickets, Sunil Narine has been the most prolific bowler for the Knights against the Super Kings over the years and the wily spinner will be looking to make an impact in a venue he has done well over the years. Among the batsmen, Venkatesh’s return to form is good news for the Knights as his firepower up top can make a huge difference in crunch games. Going into their penultimate game of the season and needing a big result to stay in the race, Skipper Rana and the boys will have to put their best foot forward to get the 2 crucial points that will keep them in the playoffs race going into the final round of fixtures.

The Knights suffered a heartbreaking loss at the Eden on the night as an inspired knock from Yashasvi Jaiswal led the Rajasthan Royals to a 9 wicket win. Put into bat first in a track similar to the previous game against Punjab Kings, the Knights lost openers Roy and Gurbaz early before Rana and Venkatesh steadied the ship. However, Rana (22) holed out in the deep looking to up the scoring rate in the 11th over with the score reading 77/3. Venkatesh Iyer held up one end and hit some lusty blows on his way to 57. However, the Knights could not accelerate enough as the wicket started to hold up making shotmaking difficult towards the end overs. Needing 150 to win, the Royals lost Jos Butler early courtesy a fantastic direct hit from Dre Russ but Yashasvi Jaiswal’s subsequent blitzkrieg took the game away from the Knights. Jaiswal and Sanju Samson combined to put on a 121 run stand that took the Royals home with 9 wickets to spare. Speaking after the match, Skipper Rana rued the fact that the Knights couldn’t post a par score which the bowlers could be comfortable with on the night. The Skipper was all praise for Jaiswal though saying it was his day and everything the youngster did came off. The Knights will next take on CSK at the Chepauk Stadium on Sunday in a bid to keep themselves in the running for a spot in the playoffs.

Having pulled off another last ball win in the previous encounter against the Punjab Kings, the Knights will look to go all out in the match against Rajasthan Royals today to make it 3 wins on the trot and stay in the race for a place in the playoffs. The two teams have faced each other 27 times in the IPL with the Knights holding the edge with 14 wins. The two teams haven’t met yet in this edition of the IPL but faced each other twice in last year’s edition winning one apiece. Both the teams go into this fixture with 10 pts each from their 11 games and 2 points could see the winners go up to 4th in the table.

With over 100 games and 2500 runs in the IPL, Nitish Rana is one of the most exciting batsmen to have featured in the world’s premier T20 cricket league. The southpaw who has been a crucial figure for the Knights for the last 5 years has been one of the most consistent players in the KKR squad over that period.

In yet another incredible finish, Andre Russell 42(23) and Rinku Singh 21* (10) came in clutch in the final overs to take the Knights home in a topsy turvy game at the Eden Gardens on Monday night. Winning the toss earlier in the evening, Punjab Kings chose to bat first. The Kings came into the game with 4 consecutive 200 plus scores but found going tough against the new look Knights pace attack with younster Harshit Rana 2/33 impressing once again removing Punjab opener Prabhsimran Singh and Rajapaksa in a fiery opening spell. With 3 wickets down within the powerplay, the Knights spin trio then collectively gave away just 81 from their 12 overs with Varun Chakravarthy once again being the pick of the bowlers picking up 3/26 in his 4 overs. Skipper Rana also chipped in with the crucial wicket of Shikhar Dhawan in the 15th over to ensure the Kings Skipper didn’t take the game away from the Knights towards the end of the innings.

If recent results and performances are anything to go by, the fans at the Eden on Monday night are in for a treat as the Knights play hosts to Punjab Kings. The two teams are separated by just 2 points in the table and both teams will go into this fixture with the intent of grabbing the 2 points at any cost. The Punjab Kings come into this contest having posted 4 200+ scores in their last 4 games whilst the Knights have won 2 of their last 3. With the Eden being one of the best tracks to bat on this season, another run fest cannot be ruled out.

West Indies wicketkeeper batsman Johnson Charles has replaced Litton Das in the KKR squad for the remainder of the season after the latter had to pull out due to personal reasons. He was roped in for his base fee of 50 Lakh INR. Johnson Charles is a two time World T20 Champion (2012, 2016) with the West Indies National Team and brings with him a wealth of experience and ability at the highest level. Charles is coming into the IPL in great form having scored a century of just 39 balls in March against the Proteas. This is his first stint in the IPL but the seasoned campaigner has played T20 cricket in the Caribbean, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan scoring over 5600 runs in 224 T20s.

Delhi based speedster Harshit Rana has come into the KKR team and breathed fire into a pace attack that has struggled with injuries and momentum. Effortlessly and quite consistently hitting speeds of 140+ , whilst swinging the ball both ways and sporting a mean bouncer, the youngster has all the makings of a champion fast bowler.

In yet another nail biting final finish, the Knights found a way to wrestle an incredible win from the jaws of defeat courtesy an excellent last over from Varun Chakravarthy. Electing to bat first in a wicket that looked a touch slowish, the Knights braved the early loss of wickets to put on a competitive 171 on the board. In reply, the Sunrisers Hyderabad fell short by 5 runs finishing with 166/9 at the end of their 20 overs giving the Knights a crucial win on the road!