Buoyant Royals eye third consecutive win

The in-form Rajasthan Royals will be confident of a third consecutive victory when they take on Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League here on Wednesday.

Royals have turned it around with back-to-back wins after Sunrisers thrashed them in their opener.

They pipped Delhi Daredevils by 19 runs in a rain-hit encounter and then travelled away to post a convincing 19-run victory over star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The undisputed star of the game was Sanju Samon who hit a blistering a 45-ball 92 and Royals would expect him to fire again.

They were able to iron out a few of their flaws. Royals' batting clicked with Samson leading the charge and skipper Ajinkya Rahane too making a useful contribution. Their bowling too could sustain the pressure of onslaught by big hitters like Virat Kohli and A B de Villiers.

They are on their home turf where they have seldom lost matches but they would still be wary of KKR who outplayed Delhi Daredevils rather comfortably on Monday night for their second win in four games.

With Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine at the top and big hitters like Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana and Andre Russell in the middle, KKR have enough fire power and depth.

Their bowling too has the right balance with the deceptive Narine, the current purple cap holder in the tournament. Old horse Piyush Chawla and the wily Kuldeep Yadav are capable of weaving a web around any batting side. Pacer Shivam Mavi, who rose to stardom during the recent U-19 World Cup, and Russell provide the medium pace variety to KKR.

However, the tight schedule of the tournament has left KKR so drained that they have preferred to rest on Tuesday instead of holding a practice session.

The pink city, after a two and half hour rain interruption in the previous match, is under a dry and hot spell. The wicket here is a sporting one but a little bit of dryness would help the KKR spin department.