RCB host KKR with home fans keen on revenge at the Chinnaswamy

On Wednesday evening at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, 5th-placed Royal Challengers Bangalore will go head-on with 8th-placed Kolkata Knight Riders. Royal Challengers Bangalore have gathered eight points from seven games with four wins while Kolkata Knight Riders have amassed four points with two wins from seven games.

Royal Challengers won their last game against Rajasthan Royals by 7 runs. Faf du Plessis scored 62 from 39 balls and Glenn Maxwell scored 77 from 44 balls to help RCB’s charge as they amassed 189 runs batting first. Courtesy of a fine spell from Harshal Patel who registered figures of 3/32 from his quota of 4 overs, RCB restricted RR to 182 runs.

Kolkata Knight Riders, on the other hand, lost to Chennai Super Kings in their last game as they fell short of the finish line by 49 runs. After a poor bowling display that leaked 235 runs, Jason Roy fought hard with a 26-ball-61 while Rinku Singh’s late charge of 53* (33) saw them coming close enough but not close enough.

The last time these two teams met, RCB had managed to claim five wickets of KKR within just 89 runs but a stunning half-century from Shardul Thakur, who scored 68 from just 29 balls helped Kolkata post 204. Royal Challengers Bangalore got off to a good start but lost wickets in heaps later as they were skittled out for 123.

Venue Watch

Chinnaswamy has always been known to produce a lot of runs under the lights. As two teams feature a host of hard-hitting batters, another 400-plus cracker won’t come as a surprise. The average score batting first in Chinnaswamy in the IPL is 160 which signifies enough assistance for the batters.

Personal battles to watch out for:

Faf du Plessis vs Varun Chakravarthy

Faf du Plessis is the leading run-scorer of the tournament with 405 runs at a strike rate of 165.30 and an average of 67.50. The last time these two teams met, Varun Chakravarthy was the one who got the wicket of Faf, but in conditions where the RCB skipper has thrived, expect the latter to have much more of a say.

Virat Kohli vs Sunil Narine

Virat Kohli has scored 279 runs in the ongoing edition of the IPL with a best of 82* and is looking in pristine touch. The stand-in RCB skipper got out for a duck last outing vs the Rajasthan Royals and he’ll be looking to make amends, but in his path will be Sunil Narine. In the last meeting between these two sides, Narine knocked back Kohli’s stumps but in a ground all too familiar for the latter, expect the RCB star to put on a show. 

Mohammed Siraj vs Jason Roy

Mohammed Siraj is well and truly in the race for the Purple Cap and has been in roaring form with the ball, especially in the powerplay stages. For KKR, Jason Roy put on a spectacle with the bat in their last game and is a match-winner in his own right. For RCB to have a comfortable outing with the bat, it will be important for Siraj to yet again weave his magic and send the Englishman back early.

Match detail:

Match: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders

Venue: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

Date: 26th April, 2023

Time: 7:30 PM

Head-to-head:

Matches played: 31

KKR: 15

RCB: 16

Squads:

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

Faf Du Plessis (C), Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammad Siraj, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Shahbaz Ahmed, Anuj Rawat, Akash Deep, Josh Hazlewood, Mahipal Lomror, Finn Allen, Suyash Prabhudessai, Karn Sharma, Siddharth Kaul, David Willey, Himanshu Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Rajan Kumar, Avinash Singh, Sonu Yadav, Michael Bracewell

Kolkata Knight Riders:

Nitish Rana (C), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, Narayan Jagadeesan (wk), Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma, David Weise, Kulwant Khejrolia, Mandeep Singh, Litton Das, Jason Roy.