On Thursday, May 11, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) will meet in match number 56 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The predicament that both teams find themselves in is similar. Rajasthan and Kolkata have both won five of their 11 games.
The different sides have, be that as it may, experienced differentiating fortunes over the most recent few weeks. KKR have resurrected their IPL 2023 campaign after four losses in a row by winning three of their last four games. They defeated Punjab Kings (PBKS) by five wickets in their most recent match.
In terms of RR, they have won just one of their last six games. In their past conflict, they went down to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by four wickets. In the straight-on fight between the two groups, Kolkata has a slim 14-12 lead over Rajasthan.
It’s interesting to note that some of the players who will be representing their respective teams on Thursday have previously been in the opposing team’s camp. Three of these cricketers are examined.
Jason Holder:
At the IPL mini-auction for the 2023 season, Rajasthan Royals purchased former West Indies captain Jason Holder for 5.75 crore rupees. Like Southee, Holder also has addressed different establishments in the Indian T20 association throughout the long term.
He played for CSK in 2013, for Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2014, and for them again in 2020 and 2021. He was selected by Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), one of the two teams that played in the IPL for the first time in 2022. He was, however, let go ahead of the current season, which came as a bit of a surprise.
Holder also played for Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2016 tournament. The season for the all-rounder was not memorable. The right-arm medium pacer took two wickets in four matches at an economy rate of 7.92 and an average of 51.50. He also did little with the bat, scoring 22 runs in 19 balls.
His current season’s performance for RR has been extremely disappointing. In eight games, he has only taken four wickets at an economy rate of 9.96 and an average of 71. In the game against Mumbai Indians, he was pummeled for three successive sixes by Tim David in the last finish. He hasn’t had much opportunity to show off his bat skills.
Sanju Samson:
This will be somewhat of something special for fans. Sanju Samson, captain of the Rajasthan Royals, once played for the Kolkata Knight Riders. Obviously, it is hard to recollect this reality since Samson never had an opportunity to play a game for the Kolkata-based establishment.
KKR bought the keeper-batter before the IPL 2012 season even started. In point of fact, he had been involved in the plans for the franchise’s development for more than three years. However, after the 2012 tournament, Kolkata stopped supporting the talented cricketer. He was endorsed by RR in the 2013 season and the rest, as is commonly said, is history.
Samson has participated for RR in every IPL season that he has been a part of, with the exception of the two seasons in 2016 and 2017, when he played for Delhi. Even more impressively, the 28-year-old holds the record for scoring the most runs for Rajasthan Royals: 3349 runs in 127 matches at an average of 30.17 and a strike rate of 138.61.