RCB vs KKR Match Preview, Player Stats and Pitch Reports........

RCB VS KKR MATCH PREVIEW

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGLORE

Royal Challengers Bangalore have started their campaign with a win in front of their home crowd against the Mumbai Indians. They were clinical with both bat and ball in the opening game.

With the ball, their bowlers were brilliant in the powerplay and middle overs but were expensive in the death. Karn Sharma and Mohammad Siraj were the pick from the bowlers and picked up 2 and 1 wickets respectively.

Chasing with the bat, their openers Faf Du Plessis and Virat Kohli were all over the Mumbai Indians bowlers and scored 73 and 82 runs respectively. They have a decent record against KKR and will be a very interesting game to watch out for.

Team News - R Topley dislocated his shoulder so most likely he will be miss out David Willey Replace him

Possible XI

Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis(c), Glenn Maxwell, Michael Bracewell, Shabaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik(w), Karn Sharma, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, David Willey, Mohammed Siraj

Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata Knight Riders will be playing their first home game this season. They did not have a good start in their opening game and lost against the Punjab Kings by 7 runs.

Bowling first, their bowlers were expensive and were smashed all around the park by the Punjab batters. Tim Southee bowled decently and picked up 2 wickets but was expensive.

With the bat, none of their batters looked good and failed to convert their starts. Venkatesh Iyer and Andre Russell were the top scorers and scored 34 and 35 runs respectively.

Team News - Shakib Al Hasan pulled out himself from IPL 2023, Jason Roy Announce a replacement of Shakib but he is not available for Today Match

Possible XI

Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee/Lockie Ferguson, Anukul Roy, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy

Key Players to Watch/Key Stats

Kolkata Knight Riders:

• A lot rests on Andre Russell. He has an unbelievable record against RCB, with 364 runs in 12 matches at an average of 45.50 and strike rate of 208. He also has ten wickets.

• Nitish Rana has solid numbers against RCB. The captain has struck 231 runs in nine innings at an average of 33.00 and strike rate of 144.38. He also has similar stats at Eden Gardens: 14 inns, 464 runs, avg. 34.62, SR 140.19.

• Rana has faced 21 balls against Mohammed Siraj and strikes at 157.1. He has been dismissed once, so this could be an interesting battle today.

• Venkatesh Iyer vs RCB: 3 inns, 77 runs, avg. 38.50, SR 108.45.

• Virat Kohli has a strike rate of just 103.1 in the IPL against Sunil Narine (101 off 98, three dismissals). Narine also has the most wickets of any bowler at Eden Gardens, with 56 in 44 innings at a strike rate of 18.29.

• Umesh Yadav against RCB’s openers promises to be a great watch. He has dismissed du Plessis once in 15 balls, conceding 12. Also, Umesh has dominated Glenn Maxwell in T20s, with total figures of 4/31 in 28 deliveries.

• Tim Southee also has good numbers against Faf, with total figures of 2/27 off 16 balls in T20s.

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

• Virat Kohli has a great record against Umesh (150 runs off 85 balls, three dismissals), but early movement at Eden Gardens makes Yadav a dangerous customer. If Virat gets going, watch out.

• Virat has the most runs in KKR-RCB matches (786) at an average of 34.17 and strike rate of 128.64. He also loves batting at Kolkata, with 471 runs on this ground (avg. 42.82, SR 128.34).

• Faf du Plessis was man of the match against Mumbai Indians with a 43-ball 73. KKR is one of Faf’s favourite opponents, with 432 runs at an average of 39.27 and strike rate of 131.71.

• Interestingly, du Plessis has a poor past record at Eden Gardens: 7 inns, 108 runs, avg. 15.43, SR 131.71.

• Glenn Maxwell has smashed 84 runs off 43 balls against Southee in all T20s (three dismissals). But, his poor record against Umesh (mentioned above) and Sunil Narine (4/93 off 84 balls) is something for him to overcome.

• Mohammed Siraj was superb in the powerplay against MI. But, RCB may also look to use him against Andre Russell. He has bowled 18 deliveries to the West Indian, dismissing him once whilst conceding just 22.

• Siraj has taken nine wickets in as many matches against KKR at an average of 24.33 and economy of 7.22.

• Harshal Patel has dismissed Andre Russell twice in 26 balls, conceding a respectable 35. Harshal has 12 career wickets in ten matches vs KKR (SR 17.50) and nine wickets in seven matches at Eden Gardens (SR 17.33).

Other Stats and Facts

• Head-to-head: Matches 31, KKR 17, RCB 14.

• Andre Russell’s batting record at Eden Gardens: 25 inns, 700 runs, avg. 38.89, SR 199.43.

• Virat Kohli has scored 67 off 42 against Shardul Thakur in the IPL.

• Faf du Plessis in T20s in 2023: 13 inns, 482 runs, avg. 40.17, SR 146.50.

• Umesh takes one wicket every 24 deliveries on average on this ground. Can he improve on this?

• Karn Sharma at Eden Gardens: 6 matches, 8 wickets, avg. 19.50, SR 12.75.

Eden Gardens Kolkata Pitch Report and Weather

Expect the Eden Gardens surface to have something in it for the quicks, with early swing and dew on the menu. So, the captain who wins the toss is likely to chase.

There were two high-scoring matches on this ground in IPL 2022. Gujarat chased Rajasthan’s 188 with three balls to spare, before RCB scored 207 and beat LSG by 16 runs. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in October and November 2022, the average first innings score in seven matches was 176.14. The team batting first won four of these games.

A hot and clear night is forecast in Kolkata.

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