Kolkata Knight Riders Predicted XI vs Gujarat Titans: Will Jason Roy Make His IPL 2023 Debut?

After a comprehensive victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) regroup to take on the defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) in their third match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 campaign. With Shakib Al Hasan ruling himself out of the tournament, the Knight Riders picked Jason Roy as his replacement. Up against the Titans who haven't lost a single game since the start of the season, could the Kolkata franchise give the English opener his debut for the season?

With Jason Roy being roped in to give the side a boost following the injury to regular captain Shreyas Iyer and the pullout of Bangladesh allrounder Shakib Al Hasan, it would be interesting to see how KKR fit the England opener after young Afghanistan wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz's exploits at the top.

Gurbaz scored a quick 22 against Punjab Kings, which KKR lost by seven runs (DLS method). But the 21-year-old was a revelation against RCB, laying the foundation for a 200-plus total against RCB with a fighting fifty before Shardul Thakur's pyrotechnics took the team to a massive 204.

However, the 81-run win against the star-studded RCB, aided by Shardul's all-round show, the dream debut by Delhi teenager Suyash Sharma -- who took 3/30 -- and the brilliance of slow bowlers Varun Chakravarthy (4/15) and Sunil Narine (2/16) will give enough confidence to skipper Nitish Rana to go into the game with a positive frame of mind.

KKR likely playing XI against GT:Venkatesh Iyer, Rahmanullah Gurbaz/Jason Roy, Mandeep Singh/N Jagadeesan, Nitish Rana (c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy

With PTI inputs