Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) suffered their second defeat by the barest of margins against Rajasthan Royals (RR) and will hope to get back to winning ways when they take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Eden Gardens in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 on Sunday.
Faf du Plessis and Co. have been on a downward spiral having lost their last five games, a run that started with a mauling from the KKR at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in March.
RCB will hope that they can turn their fortunes around against the Knights in Purple and Gold with the visitors set to don the green jersey for the afternoon fixture.
KKR and RCB have faced off in 33 matches so far. KKR have won 19 times and RCB have come out victorious on 14 occasions.
In their last five encounters, KKR again have a dominant record, winning four out of the five matches against RCB.
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KKR Team News
Either of the two openers – Phil Salt or Sunil Narine – have continued to click for KKR so far this season. Their bludgeoning starts at the top of the order have meant the rest of the KKR batting line-up have managed to build on it and pile on the runs. Be it Angkrish Raghuvanshi’s talented hitting or Shreyas Iyer’s calmness in the middle, KKR seem to have cracked the code. Add to that, the power from the likes of Venkatesh Iyer, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh and Andre Russell – a strong finish is assured.
Mitchell Starc, along with Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana, with the new ball have gone for runs but have scalped wickets too. The guile and accuracy of Narine and Varun Chakravarthy have given KKR the control with the ball.
The late-to-end overs have leaked runs be it the spinners or the pacers for KKR, something the think-tank of mentor Gautam Gambhir, head coach Chandrakant Pandit and bowling coach Bharat Arun will need to address.
KKR Playing XI vs RCB
Phil Salt (WK), Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Shreyas Iyer (C), Venkatesh Iyer, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Mitchell Starc, Varun Chakravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana (SUB)
RCB Team News
RCB have been dismal throughout the season so far. Their batters have scored runs but not enough to win games and their bowlers have taken wickets but leaked more runs. In fact, RCB have made the most alterations to their side than most and with half the tournament already done and dusted, are yet to find their winning eleven.
Virat Kohli is leading the race for the Orange Cap with 361 runs from seven games at an average of 72.2 and a strike-rate of 147.35. The rest of the batters – including Faf, Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror, Will Jacks, Cameron Green, Rajat Patidar, Saurav Chauhan and Anuj Rawat – have not been consistent. Only Dinesh Karthik, the former KKR skipper, has looked dependable to give RCB a strong finish with the bat.
Yash Dayal, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Reece Topley, Mohammed Siraj, Alzarri Joseph and Lockie Ferguson have all gone for runs and have not managed to take enough wickets.
Maxwell’s participation is uncertain and Siraj is being rested occasionally to manage his workload. The only constant for RCB seems to be change.
RCB Playing XI vs KKR
Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Will Jacks, Rajat Patidar, Saurav Chauhan, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Mahipal Lomror, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Reece Topley, Lockie Ferguson, Yash Dayal, Anuj Rawat (SUB)
KKR vs RCB Pitch Report
The heatwave washing over the City of Joy has sapped the energy of most in the past few days. With temperatures reaching as high as 42 degrees, humidity has compounded matters. A day game in such conditions with negligible dew will surely pose a conundrum for the captain winning the toss.
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