Depleted KKR seek home comfort against RCB

Kolkata: Hit by injuries and unavailability of key players, two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders will seek home comfort and look to return to winning ways when they face a star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, here on Thursday. Having started their campaign with a seven-run defeat via Duckworth-Lewis method against Punjab Kings at Mohali, KKR suffered twin blows. First premier Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan pulled out of the tournament because of family reasons and international commitments and, the next day, regular skipper Shreyas Iyer, who is also their batting mainstay, was ruled out of the entire IPL as he will undergo a surgery to treat his back injury.

KKR had made Nitish Rana their stand-in skipper, assuming that their regular skipper would be back in the second half of the season but with Iyer ruled out completely, the Chandrakant Pandit-coached side may face a leadership crisis. 'Accidental' skipper Rana, who has experience of leading Delhi in white-ball cricket, has a big task ahead of him as the team desperately seeks some solace in its den. The buzz is that KKR's owner Shah Rukh Khan will be in the house when they return here after 1,438 days.

They last played at Eden Gardens on April 28, 2019 -- a 34-run win over Mumbai Indians before COVID-19 hit the world. The excitement will be at an all-time high for both teams, with crowd-puller Virat Kohli in the visitors' dug out. KKR looked a shadow of their past in their season-opener, which was interrupted by a floodlight glitch before the skies opened up. Iyer's absence has made the batting feeble. A quick-fire fifty-run partnership between Andre Russell and Venkatesh Iyer, who was promoted to No. 4, was the highlight of their batting against Punjab.

KKR also can take positives from a cracking start by Afghan wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who smashed a flurry of boundaries and a 101-metre six before perishing for 22. KKR had blamed the power failure in the innings break for their drop in momentum, but the truth is they will have to raise the bar.

England opener Jason Roy was roped in by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to give the side a boost following injury to regular captain Shreyas Iyer and the pullout of Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan.

Roy will miss KKR's home game against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Thursday but will be available for selection for the team's next match against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on April 9. The two-time IPL champions were dealt a huge injury blow when Iyer was ruled out for the entire season due to a back injury, while Shakib pulled out citing personal and national commitments.

"Kolkata Knight Riders have signed England's Jason Roy for Rs 2.8 crore for the TATA IPL 2023 from his base price of Rs 1.5 crore," KKR said in a statement. Roy, who first featured in the 2017 edition of the IPL for Gujarat Lions, last played in the 2021 season for Sunrisers Hyderabad. In 2021, he played five games, scoring 150 runs, including a half-century. The 32-year-old has played 64 T20Is for England, scoring 1,522 runs at a strike-rate of 137.61 with eight fifties. Roy is likely to replace Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who opened in their match against Punjab Kings and scored 22 from 16 balls. The purple brigade already have N Jagadeesan to don the gloves.