Kolkata, May 4 (IANS) Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders are having a difficult season so far as their chances of qualifying for the playoffs are hanging by a thread but spinner Moeen Ali said all they can do is win their remaining matches in the IPL 2025.
KKR are sitting at seventh place with nine points in 10 matches and have four games left, including today’s match against the Rajasthan Royals at Eden Gardens.
“We know what we have to do, we need to win all our games. It’s a big game today,” Moeen told broadcasters ahead of the home match.
England spinner only played in four matches in the season so far and the match against RR will be his fifth appearance after being named in the playing 11. KKR have backed Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine as frontline spinners.
In their last game against Rajasthan in the season, Moeen returned with the figures of 2-23 as KKR won by eight wickets in Guwahati.
“They are a really good side and they have some brilliant players. We are looking forward to it. He (Rahane) is good, but he will hide somewhere in the field (due to the injury), which means I will be somewhere in the hotspot today. You need to keep yourself on top of your game and need to keep practising well. They told me at the start that I will play certain games, depending on the wickets,” Moeen said.
“You have to take it in your stride and try to be as professional as you can. When there are left-handers in the opposition you have more chances of playing as an off-spinner. We have two of the best T20 spinners with us, so difficult to break into that side. They (Jaiswal and Suryavanshi) are talented young players, so it’s going to be challenge for us. We also have some world-class players in our side, so we are ready for it,” he added.
KKR will give their all in the encounter, as Rajasthan are already knocked out of the tournament with only three wins in 11 games so far.
–IANS
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