Match no. 53 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 will see the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) host the Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Sunday, March 4, at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
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The previous fixture at the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati saw the Knight Riders emerge victorious by 8 wickets as they chased down a target of 152 comfortably, thanks to an unbeaten 97 from the South-African wicket-keeper batsman Quinton de Kock.
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KKR are still in the race for the playoffs as they look to repeat the result at Guwahati. The Knight Riders are coming off a win against the Delhi Capitals (DC) as they defended a target of 205 to clinch their fourth victory of the season.
Rajasthan, on the other hand, are already out of the playoffs race after facing a defeat at the hands of the five-times champions Mumbai Indians (MI) in their previous match. They will look to finish their campaign strongly and play spoilsport for the other teams.
The Sporting News takes a look at the details ahead of the much-awaited clash.
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KKR VS RR: Betting odds
According to Dafabet, KKR are the favourites to win the IPL 2025 league match against RR.
KKR VS RR: Prediction
The two teams have met on 31 different occasions. KKR have won 15 times while RR have 14 wins to their name; two matches have ended in no-result.
Going by recent form, KKR have the upper hand over the champions of the inaugural edition of the tournament.
KKR have revived their confidence with a win against Delhi in their last game, and will look to build on it to try and snatch a win from the visitors.
The Eden Gardens has proven to be a batsman-friendly surface in this IPL, so expect the likes of Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, and Ajinkya Rahane to score big.
Angkrish Raghuvanshi has slightly gone under the radar, but he has been a consistent batter for KKR so far.
Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, and Varun Chakravarthy have been the pick of the bowlers for KKR.
Expect them to try a lot of variations on the Eden pitch. Russell has proved to be a valuable asset with his bowling this year, as KKR will again look forward to their marquee player for providing important breakthroughs.
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Rajasthan have had a disappointing season so far, with both their batting and bowling unit not living up to expectations. If they want a positive outcome from this match, their top order consisting of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Riyan Parag need to fire early.
Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer, two retained players, are yet to make a significant impact with the bat in a winning cause.
In the bowling department, Jofra Archer has been a consistent threat, but he will need help from the likes of Sandeep Sharma (or Akash Madhwal), Maheesh Theekshana, if they have to restrict KKR to a chaseable score.
Considering overall factors and home conditions, KKR are likely to come out victorious from this clash.