RCB aim at consolidation against Kolkata Knight Riders

Battle of the big-hitters on cards as Royal Challengers Bangalore face Kolkata Knight Riders at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Wednesday. 

RCB will be entering this fixture after a close victory against Rajasthan Royals courtesy a superhuman effort by AB de Villiers. The Protea batsman launched an assault on the Rajasthan bowlers and dispatched everything that was hurled at him. His 22-ball stay at the crease was studded by 6 towering sixes and a solitary boundary, which saw RCB home with 2 balls to spare.  On the bowling front, Chris Morris has been a valuable addition to the line-up. The tall and lanky bowler boasts of swing, pace and accuracy, which makes him a formidable pacer to face. He has bowled with an astonishing economy rate of 5.25, providing the vital breakthroughs upfront and in the death overs as well. 

Yuzvendra Chahal, with 14 wickets in 9 matches, is the leading wicket-taker for RCB this season. With a backpack of tricks up his sleeve, the leggie has been outstanding in tightening the noose around the batsman in the middle overs. 

In their previous fixture, Kolkata Knight Riders held their nerve to secure two points against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday. The addition of Lockie Ferguson has infused some muscle into the line-up. The Kiwi pacer tormented the Sunrisers top-order, scalping three wickets. Add to that, his fiery spell in the Super Over was instrumental in setting up the victory. The management will breathe a sigh of relief as Dinesh Karthik and Eoin Morgan were back amongst the runs on Sunday. Sunil Narine, who was previously suspected of illegal bowling action, has been cleared by the IPL governing council. 

With just 4 points adrift of the confirmed playoffs spot, RCB will be looking to continue the winning run. 

Match Details 

Date: Sunday, 21 October 

Venue: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi 

Time: 7:30 PM (IST) 

Form Guide 

Royal Challengers Bangalore - LWWLW

Kolkata Knight Riders - WWLLW 

Squads  

RCB - Virat Kohli, Parthiv Patel, AB de Villiers, Chris Morris, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shivam Dube, Aaron Finch, Umesh Yadav, Adam Zampa, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, Dale Steyn, Moeen Ali, Pawan Negi, Gurkeerat Mann Singh, Isuru Udana, Devdutt Padikkal, Shahbaz Ahmed, Joshua Philippe, Pavan Deshpande.

KKR - Dinesh Karthik, Shivam Mavi, Tom Banton, Sandeep Warrier, Kuldeep Yadav, Eoin Morgan, Pat Cummins, Sunil Narine, Nikhil Naik, Manimaran Siddharth, Andre Russell, Lockie Ferguson, Prasidh Krishna, Shubman Gill, Nitesh Rana, Siddhesh Lad, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Rinku Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Chris Green and Rahul Tripathi.