The Kolkata Knight Riders host the Rajasthan Royals in Match 28 of the Indian Premier League 2026 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
The Knight Riders, still
winless in IPL 2026 having played six games in the season, lie on the brink of early elimination. They are yet to find their combinations with bat and ball after being hampered by injuries.
The Royals were handed their first loss when they faced the Sunrisers Hyderabad, losing by 57 runs. They would be hoping that the blip was just a one-off and would look to get back to winning ways against the Knight Riders.
Here are the top player battles from KKR vs RR, Match 28:
3) Cameron Green vs Ravi Bishnoi
Cameron Green finally got off the mark in IPL 2026 with his first half-century for the Kolkata Knight Riders. His 79-run knock against the Gujarat Titans was fluid and fluent, with his long levers and boundary-hitting being on full display. The Knight Riders will be hoping that their big Aussie all-rounder will maintain his form as they search for their first victory in 2026. Green has been highly touted as a future world-beater, and he would be hoping to use this IPL season as a platform for future career successes.
With Green batting in the middle order, the job of stopping him falls on the shoulders of Ravi Bishnoi. The leg spinner, playing for his home franchise, has seen a resurgence in the 2026 season. He has bowled with deception and guile, picking up nine wickets in the season, the most by a Royals bowler. The pair has met in just two innings, with Green managing just eight runs in nine balls, and have yet to be dismissed by Bishnoi.
2) Yashasvi Jaiswal vs Sunil Narine
With the emergence of the 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal’s role has changed as the senior player at the top of the order. While he has also struck at a blistering 157, he is expected to now carry his bat ahead and hold the innings together from the top. He has scored 184 runs in 2026 and will be expected to be the reference point around whom the team builds its innings.
Stopping him in his tracks will be the responsibility of Sunil Narine. The veteran KKR spinner has bowled with great control as always, and has been hard to get away, going at just 6.98 runs per over. The pair has faced each other in just one innings, with Jaiswal scoring 11 runs in eight balls off Narine’s bowling
1) Dhruv Jurel vs Varun Chakravarthy
Dhruv Jurel has found a new lease of life at number 3 for the Royals. A technically sound batter who is capable of shifting gears with ease, he has scored 176 runs at 177.77 in his new role, with match-defining knocks against the Gujarat Titans and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
The role of keeping him in check would fall to Varun Chakravarthy. The mystery spinner has struggled for form in the 2026 season, picking up two wickets at an economy of 10.69. The pair has met in two innings, with Jurel struggling to get going. He has played eight balls, scoring just two runs and has been dismissed once.
