Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) won the toss and chose to bowl first against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 clash after a brief delay in Raipur on May 13.
RCB made two changes to their playing XI as Venkatesh Iyer walked into their fold in place of Romario Shepherd. Not jsut that, Jacob Duffy included in place of leg-spinner Suyash Sharma. Meanwhile, KKR brought in Saurabh Dubey in place of Varun Chakaravarthy.
What did the captains say at the toss?
RCB skipper Rajat Patidar, after winning the toss, said:
"Obviously, we'll bowl first. I think it's a similar wicket that we played last match, so I think it will behave in the same way. And it should be pretty good also, hard surface, but we'll try to keep them under pressure while chasing. (The colour of the surface looks a little dark.) I don't think so. As I feel, both the wickets are pretty much the same, and there must be a variable bounce, but let's see how it goes. I think it was a tight match (vs MI), but I think was a good game for us to be in the game, and everyone has a lot of confidence after the way we played the last game. It was a tight game, but everyone is looking good and looking forward for it. Every game is important. You know, we are not looking at the table, but we are just focusing more on playing a good cricket. Venky (Iyer) comes in place of Shepi (Shepherd)."
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"We wanted to bowl first as well. (In with a chance for the playoffs?) Absolutely, yes. I mean, last four games have been really good for us as a team. Everyone started to do really well. For us, sometimes the game tells you to keep things really simple. For us, it's all about taking one game at a time, keeping it really simple. And then, as I said, it's all about respecting the opponents and winning those small moments. So, just really looking forward to the game. (Improvements in the side?) I think just a belief, probably. As I said, we started winning those small, small moments. This format is all about that. One over here and there can change the game. I thought we've been bowling really well as a bowling unit. But, you know, winning those small moments in this format is really important. Every single game is really important. Varun Chakravarthy misses out, unfortunately, with a niggle injury. Saurabh Dubey comes in in place of him."
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI):
Jacob Bethell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Venkatesh Iyer, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rasikh Salam Dar, Jacob Duffy, Josh Hazlewood
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Impact subs: Devdutt Padikkal, Jordan Cox, Mangesh Yadav, Romario Shepherd, Swapnil Singh
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI):
Ajinkya Rahane(c), Finn Allen, Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi
Kolkata Knight Riders Impact subs: Saurabh Dubey, Ramandeep Singh, Tejasvi Dahiya, Navdeep Saini, Tim Seifert