The 10th match of the tournament between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). The match between them will start at 7:30 P.M. (IST). The much awaited encounter between Kohli and Gambhir.
Teams Analysis:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB):
The team is currently at 6th position with 2 points. They registered one loss and one victory in the tournament so far. In their last encounter they registered a narrow victory against PBKS by 4 wickets. They don’t have any doubt in their batting line-up but there is still a gap seen in the bowling line-up especially in the death overs where they conceded easy runs.
Virat Kohli is looking in brilliant touch and was Player of the Match in the last victory match. He scored fantastic 77 runs and gave his team a solid start.In Bengaluru he has a fantastic record and can again deliver with the same pace. On the other hand, skipper Faf du Plessis has a huge strike rate in the powerplay. In the first match he showed huge sparks but in the next match got out early.
Their destructive all-rounder Glenn Maxwell’s bat didn’t show hot water till now. In both the matches he got 0 & 3. But he got a couple of wickets against PBKS. He likes to hit anywhere in the ground and looking at the nature of Chinnaswamy he will definitely like it. Cameron Green also didn’t perform up to the mark. He has the ability to hit big and if he keeps going then the stadium will be short.
Dinesh Karthik already proved that age is just a number. He carries a huge experience in IPL and this he showed in both the matches. He scored 38 & 28 runs and remained unbeaten. In the last match against PBKS he was the game changer as he struck the ball well and guided his team to the victory. Mahipal Lomror also performed the way for which he was used. He truly defined the impact player in the last match and batted destructively.
Anuj Rawat, their young talent has shown his capability to hit large and a good finisher to the team in the death overs.
In the first match all the bowlers didn’t capitalize the situation well and bowled ordinary spells. But in the last match their main bowler Moihammad Siraj bowled a superb spell as he got 2 wickets in his 4 overs by conceding only 36 runs. Yash Dayal also supported him from the other end and bowled brilliantly. In the last season he was with GT, where Rinku Singh hit 5 sixes of his last over and took the game for KKR.
Probable playing 11 for the match:
Faf du Plessis ©, Virat Kohli, Cameron Green, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Anuj Rawat (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Alzarri Joseph, Mohammad Siraj, Yash Dayal, Mayank Dagar.
(Impact Player: Mahipal Lomror).
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR):
Knight Riders registered a close victory against SRH by 4 runs in their first match. They were moving forward to a close victory against Sunrisers but Klaasen’s power hitting silenced the momentum of Kolkata. But Harshit Rans’s last over provided the team a close victory at the end.
Phil Salt played his first match for this franchise and made it memorable after registering a half-century. He played the bowlers quite easily in the powerplay. On the other hand Sunil Nairne likes to play against RCB very much. When he came to bat against them, he had a strike rate over 190 and with the bowl he has taken 19 wickets till now against them. Therefore it definitely will be a nightmare for the Royals if he gets going easily.
Shreyas Iyer makes his return to the IPL after missing the last season due to injury, but he couldn’t make it memorable as he got out on a duck after facing only 2 balls. He also loves to play in Bengaluru and might again bat well. Nitish Rana also got out early in the first match.
Andre Russell, the nightmare of the bowlers, batted with full power as he scored 64 runs against SRH in just 25 balls in which he hit 3 fours and 7 huge sixes. He is surely a beast in the death overs and can also love the Chinnaswamy boundaries due to its short dimensions. He also contributed well in the bowling department after grabbing 2 wickets. Mitchell Starc, the costliest player in the history of IPL, cost too many runs in the first match, in his 4 overs he gave away 53 runs. But now he will play against his old franchise and knows the nature of the pitch well, which will help him to bowl economically.
Harshit Rana was the man due to which Kolkata got the win. His brilliant last over saved the match for the team. He also got 3 wickets in that match and might again want to do the same against the Challengers.
Probably playing 11 for the Match:
Shreyas Iyer ©, Phil Salt (wk), Sunil Narine, Venkastesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Mitchell Starc, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana.
(Impact Player: Anukul Roy).
Head to Head (KKR vs RCB):
They played 32 matches against each other.
| KKR | RCB | |
| won | 18 | 14 |
| Highest score | 222 | 213 |
| Lowest score | 84 | 49 |
Pitch Report:
The match will be played at M Chinnaswamy stadium, Bengaluru. The boundaries are short due to which the batsmen can score big and hit many boundaries and sixes. Spinners are mostly expensive as the pitch doesn’t offer much turn but Narine has some economical spells here. Chasing can be pretty easy as compared to batting first.
Weather Report:
Weather will remain clear throughout the day as there is no rain expected. The temperature during the daytime will be approx 35 degree celsius and might go down to 22 degree celsius at night.
Best 11 for the Match:
Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, Shreyas Iyer, Sunil Narine, Glenn Maxwell, Andre Russell, Mitchell Starc, Mohammad Siraj, Alzarri Joseph, Harshit Rana.