For Royal Challengers Bangalore, visiting Eden Gardens has always been a bittersweet experience. However, the 2017 edition was all about the notorious 49 all-out. They won the Eliminator here the previous year and also witnessed Virat Kohli tonne up on route to a team total of 213 in 2019. The possibility for a new beginning against the home team, who they have lost to in six out of the ten games at the stadium, exists now as RCB will be back to play KKR here for the first time in four years.
The fact that RCB won over MI at home, only their third victory against them in the Chinnaswamy in 11 attempts, is encouraging. On the hard, seaming pitch at the Eden Gardens, the new-ball partnership of Mohammed Siraj and Reece Ropley looked strong for the whole of the innings. Additionally, Akash Deep of the Bengals would feel somewhat at home playing at Eden Gardens. The RCB team’s two talismanic hitters, Kohli, and Faf du Plessis have had a strong start to the season in the batting department. Together, they added 148 for the first wicket. They ought to take advantage of Eden’s available bounce.
The tournament has not gotten off to the best of beginnings for KKR. A handful of Nitish Rana’s selections in his debut game as captain raised eyebrows, including his choice to not bowl Andre Russell in the final few overs. Punjab Kings stormed to a score of 191, but KKR will draw encouragement from Varun Chakaravarthy’s (4-0-26-1) performance after a difficult season. Although Umesh Yadav also had four strong overs, he didn’t bowl in the crucial moments, which KKR would like to change.
When: 7:30 p.m. local time on April 6.
Where: Kolkata’s Eden Gardens
What to anticipate: The venue should have a packed house, even throughout the week. No rain is predicted, and the pitch should be favorable for batting, but the spinners should expect some assistance. In the most recent T20Is played here, India had some success because of Ravi Bishnoi and Axar Patel.
Kolkata Knight Riders:
Jason Roy, who has been signed to replace Shakib Al Hasan, is injured and won’t be able to play in this game. He will immediately join the team in Ahmedabad for their upcoming game. Lockie Ferguson is anticipated to replace Tim Southee right away even though he wasn’t fully healthy for the first game.
Umesh Yadav is a good matchup for Glenn Maxwell because he has three times dismissed the batter for 17 runs in the 20 balls he has bowled to him.
Anukul Roy, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Shardul Thakur, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Tim Southee, and Lockie Ferguson make up the probable XI.
Royal Challengers Bangalore:
Reece Topley has come to Kolkata but is unlikely to play against KKR due to a dislocated shoulder he sustained in the first game. He will be replaced in the starting eleven by David Willey.
RCB will be cautious of Andre Russell, who has a strong track record against them. In 13 innings versus RCB, the dynamic batter scored 395 runs at an average of nearly 43 and a strike rate of 208.
Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (captain), Michael Bracewell, Glenn Maxwell, Shabaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik (w), Karn Sharma, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, David Willey, and Mohammed Siraj make up the probable XI.
Did you realize it?
Since 2020, Tim Southee has an IPL average of 17 versus right-handed batters.
In his scoring against Umesh Yadav, Virat Kohli has a 175 percent strike rate.
In the six balls that Mohammed Siraj has delivered to Sunil Narine, he has twice bowled him out.
Who said what?
“Experience is not lacking, I think.” (in the top six). Each player has made an effect both domestically and internationally, and they are all well-known cricketers. After the first game, one cannot pass judgments. – Chandrakant Pandit, KKR coach
“If I’m not mistaken, we are the third team to have qualified for the playoffs the most frequently—eight times—behind MI, which has won five titles, and CSK, which has won four. Take each game as it comes, strive to be a balanced team, which we are, and carry out your plans as you did tonight, said Virat Kohli following RCB’s victory over MI