With early cracks to fix, RR and KKR chase first points

ata Knight Riders<br/><br/>Injuries/Availability: Everyone is reportedly available for this clash.<br/><br/>Tactics and Matchups: KKR's bowlers could have their task cut out against RR, whose batters - barring Shimron Hetmyer - are generally comfortable against spin. They also have the firepower to exploit inexperience in the pace department, which was evident in RCB's run-chase. KKR opted for Spencer Johnson's left-arm angle alongside Vaibhav Arora's swing with the new ball in their previous game, but both proved expensive. That forced Varun Chakaravarthy to bowl in the powerplay, something he did only four times throughout last season. Could the experienced Anrich Nortje, if fully fit, be an option?<br/><br/>Probable XII: Quinton de Kock (w), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Spencer Johnson/Anrich Nortje, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora<br/><br/>Did you know?<br/><br/>- Anrich Nortje has been significantly more effective in the IPL in the UAE (34 wickets in 24 matches, at 20.55, economy 7.65) than in India (26 wickets in 22 matches, at 33.65, economy 10.37).<br/><br/>- In their first match this season, KKR conceded their second-highest powerplay score (80/0) in IPL history, only behind the 93/1 by PBKS during their record 262-run chase at Eden Gardens last year.<br/><br/>- The flick has been Rahane's most effective stroke against pace in IPL since 2023, a shot he put to good use against RCB the other night.<br/><br/>What they said:<br/><br/>We could have capitalized. We could have got more runs had we not lost wickets towards the end of the batting (against RCB). And yes, there is always opportunity for you to bowl better. But I think this team is not too worried about it. We will learn from what happened in the last game. And we will try and get better from there. - KKR bowling coach Bharat Arun.