Kolkata Knight Riders reached the final of IPL 2021, after a late surge in the final games of the season, and the ongoing IPL 2022 has been more or less the same, however, they are still fighting to qualify for the playoffs this time around.
Ahead of their must-win clash versus Lucknow Super Giants at the DY Patil Stadium on Wednesday, KKR were forced to make another change to their playing XI, with Abhijeet Tomar being handed his debut cap to replace an injured Ajinkya Rahane.
Rahane was earlier ruled out through injury, and in a crucial must-win game, KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer has turned to young Abhijeet to help the side.
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Meet Abhijeet Tomar, KKR opener who replaced Ajinkya Rahane
Born on 14 March 1995, Abhijeet Tomar plays his domestic cricket for Rajasthan. The 27-year-old was picked up KKR for a price of INR 40 lakhs, earlier in the IPL 2022 mega auction.
Tomar made his List-A debut for Rajasthan in the Vijay Hazare trophy in October 2018. Later, on the opening day of the Vijay Hazare trophy in 2021-22, the youngster brought up his first List-A century, with a score of 104 not out.
How can KKR qualify for playoffs of IPL 2022?
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The maths for KKR is simple, they will have to win against LSG by a big margin on Wednesday. Beating Lucknow by a big margin would help KKR to reach 14 points, which alone won't guarantee them a playoffs berth.
Shreyas Iyer's side will be hoping for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals each to lose their final games of the season. They will also hope that Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings don't reach 14 points, and if they do, they have an inferior net run rate.
