Desperate Knight Riders running out of time
A preview of the IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals
Match facts
Friday, May 3, 2013Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)
Big picture
Kolkata Knight Riders find themselves racing the clock as time runs out on their bid to make it to the playoffs. With just three wins in 10 matches, Knight Riders risk finishing in the bottom half of the table unless they win every game from here on, including the one on Friday against Rajasthan Royals.Form guide
Kolkata Knight Riders LLWLL (most recent first)Rajasthan RoyalsWWLLW
Players to watch
There probably will not be a better time in this IPL for Gautam Gambhir to stand up and show his leadership skills. His technique is strong enough to handle Sreesanth, James Faulkner and Shane Watson at the top of the order but, more importantly, he needs to be an innovative leader on the field and marshal the out-of-form batting line-upStats and trivia
- Royals don't have a great record on the road in the IPL. Of the 34 away matches they've played in the IPL, they have won 14 and lost 20.
- Shane Watson has an IPL strike rate of 147.62, which puts him fourth overall in the IPL
- Gautam Gambhir has the 19 fifty-plus scores in the IPL and is joint-highest with Rohit Sharma. Among the top five batsmen in the list, Gambhir is the only one without a hundred
Quotes
"We would try to get back the best players in the top order. We also need to give confidence to the middle order so that the team can score 150 plus, a competitive total in the game." Kolkata Knight Riders' coach Trevor Bayliss mulls over a strategy to improve the side's battingRachna Shetty is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo