KKR Ready for Home Stretch with Injured Players on the Mend

The players of the Kolkata Knight Riders reported for practice at Eden Gardens on Friday afternoon, three days following their final IPL game at the Chepauk against the Chennai Super Kings. The Knights will play their next five games at home.

The arrival of bowler Harshit Rana and batter Nitish Rana at practice was a major comfort for KKR.

Despite being present at practice on Friday, Nitish—who captained KKR last season when Shreyas Iyer was sidelined—will not be available for selection against the Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday. He is still recovering from the finger injury that has prevented him from playing since Eden Gardens' opening match against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

But Harshit, who bowled the game-winning last over against the Sunrisers at the Eden, might play on Sunday. He hadn't played in the previous game due to a shoulder ailment.

Both injured players received extra attention from coach Gautam Gambhir, who held motivational sessions with them to keep them in high spirits.

Since Gambhir joined the managerial team, the Knights have triumphed in three of their four games this season.

The players had a bounce in their step as they anticipated moving past the setback from the CSK match and optimistically anticipated the upcoming games.

KKR will find some solace in playing the Super Giants at home after their batting performance in Chennai let them down. Once more, a lot will depend on Sunil Narine and Phil Salt, the opening duo.

With her excellent form, Narine has been giving the side strong beginnings. Even in Chennai, Narine scored 27 runs off of 20 balls following Salt's exit on the opening ball of play. Despite that knock, the remaining batters failed to generate the much-needed momentum as they were confronted with a well-organized CSK onslaught.

Mitchell Starc was one of the bowlers who was seen giving it his all in the nets. Even though his economy rate of 11.0 is the highest among the team's regular bowlers, the Australian fast bowler took his first wicket of the season against CSK.

Anukul Roy, a left-arm orthodox player, has been the most economical in his two games with a 6.54 average. In both games, he entered the starting lineup as an Impact Sub.

Following the players' visit the day before, Gambhir took time off in the morning to visit Kalighat on Friday. Prior to their match versus RCB in the previous edition, coach Chandrakant Pandit and captain Nitish visited the temple to obtain blessings.

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