Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will aim to continue winning momentum as they are set to take on Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on March 29 (Wednesday) at the DY Patil Stadium, in Navi Mumbai.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR's) victory
While the Shreyas Iyer-led side had previously defeated defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by six wickets in the opening game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, RCB on the other hand, had to concede a five-wicket defeat against Punjab Kings (PBKS), despite registering a 200-plus score.
In the opening game, KKR bowlers did a tremendous job to restrict the defending champions within a total of 131. Pacer Umesh Yadav had picked up two wickets against CSK. KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer will undoubtedly want his bowlers to exhibit another brilliant bowling display against RCB to clinch their second victory of the ongoing IPL. In all likelihood, KKR will choose to keep their winning combination intact against RCB.
KKR's batting unit will depend a lot on opening batsman Ajinkya Rahane's form after the veteran Indian batsman scored 44 runs in the IPL season opener. Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine might turn out to be two crucial figures for Knight Riders in order to tackle the likes of Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik and Anuj Rawat. It will not be surprising if Shreyas decides to introduce spinners early in the match against RCB.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB's) defeat
On the other hand, in terms of batting, RCB did pretty well against PBKS in their last match but the Bangalore-based side's bowlers performed miserably after they failed to defend a target of 206.
The Faf du Plessis-led RCB registered a huge total of 205/2 in 20 overs against Punjab Kings (PBKS). Du Plessis (88 runs off 57 balls) and former RCB skipper Virat Kohli (41 runs off 29 deliveries) displayed their supreme batting skills to post a mammoth total. In the last match against PBKS, RCB had lost just two wickets but they are aware of the fact that KKR bowlers will pose a bigger challenge.
But the RCB bowlers looked absolutely pale in front of PBKS batters as the Mayank Agarwal-led side reached the target with six balls remaining. So, understandably RCB’s bowling will be a big worry for skipper Du Plessis when RCB take on KKR. Wanindu Hasaranga, Harshal Patel and Mohammed Siraj will have to lead the RCB bowling unit in order to successfully deal with the KKR batting.
KKR managed to win two of the three matches against RCB last year and it includes the Eliminator clash as well.
Unavailable players
Australian duo of Aaron Finch and Pat Cummins will not be available for KKR due to their international duties. On the other hand, RCB will miss Australian cricketers Josh Hazlewood and Jason Behrendorff. RCB all-rounder Glenn Maxwell will also be unavailable for the KKR match.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Probable XI
Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Nitish Rana, Sam Billings, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Sheldon Jackson (wicketkeeper), Umesh Yadav, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakaravarthy
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) Probable XI
Faf du Plessis (captain), Virat Kohli, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahbaz Ahmed, Wanindu Hasaranga, David Willey, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj
