Karun Nair stats IPL: Why is Kuldeep Sen not playing today’s IPL 2022 match between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders?

Why Kuldeep Sen not playing today: Rajasthan Royals have made three changes to their Playing XI for this match.

During the 30th match of the ongoing 15th season of the Indian Premier League between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders at the Brabourne Stadium, Kolkata Knight Riders captain Shreyas Iyer has won the toss and chose to bowl.

“We’ll bowl first. The wicket looks amazing and hard. One side seems short and one is long, so that’s another reason why we want to chase. We just practice a lot in the nets, we’ve seen the videos and have had chats in the meetings,” Iyer told Star Sports at the toss.

Coming on the back of two consecutive losses, Knight Riders have opted to make a change to their Playing XI. Fast bowler Shivam Mavi has come in for all-rounder Aman Khan to bolster their bowling unit.

“We’ve got one change – Shivam Mavi comes in for Aman Khan. They [overseas stars] have been excellent for KKR in recent years. It’s gonna be important for us that they perform but also the domestic players need to step up,” Iyer added.

Why is Kuldeep Sen not playing vs KKR today?

Much like Iyer, Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson also wanted to bowl first at the Cricket Club of India tonight. With all their three victories coming batting first, Royals shouldn’t mind setting a total against the Knights.

“We would have also liked to bowl first but need to be ready to do both. Our team is well set to do both. New venue for us and we need to understand conditions quickly. Everyone has to contribute to whatever is the team’s requirement, the talk is always about understanding the situation and being smarter,” Samson told Star Sports at the toss.

Royals have made three changes to their Playing XI. With fast bowler Trent Boult recovering from an injury, he replaces James Neesham in an obvious change for this match.

Having scored 10 runs in his first two IPL innings, Rassie van der Dussen has been benched for Karun Nair. To maintain the Indian-overseas player balance, Rajasthan have handed a debut to West Indies fast bowler Obed McCoy for Kuldeep Sen.

In two matches, Sen had picked as many wickets at an economy and strike rate of 10.75 and 24 respectively. Despite bowling a match-winning final over against Lucknow Super Giants, Sen is a tad bit unlucky to sit out tonight.

Nair, who has scored 1,480 runs in 66 innings at a strike rate of 128.36 across eight seasons, has returned to the IPL after missing the last season. First IPL 2022 match for Nair has kick-started his second stint at RR. Readers must note that Nair had represented the franchise in 2014-2015 as well scoring 511 runs at an average and strike rate of 24.33 and 135.54 respectively.