Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will meet Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Thursday at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
KKR is presently standing 7th on the points table while RCB is standing 3rd in the points table.
ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE (RCB):
RCB won their match against the most times title holder’s team MI defeating them brutally by 8 wickets. Faf du PLessis and company were excellent in both the batting and bowling. But their batting was really brilliant in run chasing as RCB always became destructive during run chase.
Virat Kohli showed his class again by providing precious run in run chase scoring 82 runs in just 49 balls not out. Firstly he takes a little bit of time to settle down and then the beast Kohli came after being settled down, clicking the balls in the right place. Captain Faf also shows his side of destruction by putting 73 runs in 43 balls. They both contributed 148 runs for the 1st wicket partnership. All the bowlers who bowled from RCB side took at least 1 wicket except Maxwell. Karn Sharma took 2 wickets while Siraj was the most economical bowler from his side and also took a wicket. Faf du Plessis was awarded player of the match.
Reece Topley was injured during the last match so he might be replaced by David Willey. Wanindu Hasaranga and Josh Hazalwood are still to join the squad. While Rajat Patidar is out of the tournament.
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS (KKR):
In the absence of their regular captain, Nitish Rana’s first match was drained out by rain and as a result PBKS won the match by 7 runs through DLS method. Team was lagging not only in bowling but also in batting.
KKR bowling drastically failed in front of PBKS batsman. In the death overs they were clueless and PBKS scored 191 runs with the loss of 5 wickets. Tim Southee took 2 wickets but he gave 54 runs in his 4 overs of spell. Shardul Thakur who was traded before the auction was wicketless and gave 43 runs. Varun Chakravarthy And Umesh Yadav manage to maintain their economy below 7.
In the run chase they lost too many early wickets. At one time KKR was 80/5 but then Russell came and showed some of his powerful hitting and made 35 runs in 19 balls. After that rain started and the match result was decided by the DLS method and KKR was 7 runs behind projected DLS runs.
Since Shakib Al Hasan opted out from the tournament due to his international commitment and personal things, Jason Roy was signed as a replacement for him but he might not play against RCB. Lockie Ferguson is also not 100%fit so the possibility of him playing is in doubt. Liton Das is still in his national duty.
HEAD TO HEAD (RCB vs KKR):
They played 30 matches with each other.
| RCB | KKR | |
| WON | 14 | 16 |
| HIGHEST SCORE | 213 | 222 |
| LOWEST SCORE | 49 | 84 |
Pitch condition:
Match will be at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. It has a good chasing record. Both spinners and pacers might get some help from the pitch early on. Captain might have opted out to bowl first after winning the toss.
Probable 11 for RCB:
Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis ©, Glenn Maxwell, Michael Bracewell, Shabaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, David Willey, Mohd Siraj.
Probable 11 for KKR:
Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana ©, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Tim Southee/Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy.