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Lions receive Raina boost against depleted KKR
- Updated: May 18, 2016
Match facts
Thursday, May 19, 2016 Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)
Big picture
On the eve of their second last league game, against Gujarat Lions, that can seal their playoff spot, Kolkata Knight Riders suffered a major blow with the loss of Andre Russell to an injury he picked up against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Apart from being a vital batsman in the slog overs, Russell is Knight Riders’ highest wicket-taker in the season so far, with 15 wickets at an economy rate of 7.97. On what is expected to be a batting-friendly Green Park pitch, and against a line-up that contains Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch, Suresh Raina and Dwayne Bravo, Russell’s loss would be huge, especially while bowling in the Powerplay overs. Their batting, though, looks settled with an in-form Gautam Gambhir at the top, followed by a consistent middle order.
Lions, on the other hand, will be boosted by the arrival of their captain Suresh Raina, who returns from paternity leave. After kickstarting their campaign with six wins in their first seven matches, Lions suffered four losses in their next five matches. The most harrowing of those came against Royal Challengers in their last game, in which they slid to a 144-run defeat, the largest margin in IPL history. The defeat had severe effects on their net run rate (currently -0.747), and their best chance of qualifying is by winning both their games. A loss to Knight Riders will still keep them alive, though.
Another concern for Lions will be their failure to surge in the latter half of the innings. In …
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