This IPL 2017 season couldn’t have been worse for Royal Challengers Bangalore. They have lost 8 out of their 11 games so far, but none of the defeats were as painful as the one they lost to Kolkata Knight Riders the last time the two teams played.
KKR bowled out Bangalore for a mere 49 runs, the lowest score in IPL history. That was a terrible, terrible performance in which the entire RCB team was dismissed in 9.4 overs.
Royal Challengers Bangalore last on the points table having lost all of their last three games. They lost to Kings XI Punjab by 19 runs, were beaten by Mumbai Indians by five wickets and were beaten by MS Dhoni’s Rising Pune Supergiant by 61 runs.
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Kolkata Knight Riders lost their last match to Rising Pune Supergiant, who are the in-form team in the competition. They lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad by 48 runs; so their recent form has not been really all that great.
They have certainly missed Robin Uthappa, who could not play the last game because of a hamstring injury. It remains to be seen whether Robin, who has been one of the best players in this tournament, will be back for this game. He will really want to play as he is from Bangalore and will want to prove a point to Bangalore fans.
Chris Lynn has almost recovered from a shoulder injury and he could be back soon according to KKR assistant coach Simon Katich. One major concern is fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile, who suffered a serious blow on his helmet grille when facing up to a bouncer from Rising Pune Supergiant fast bowling all-rounder Dan Christian. He is said to have been “shaken up” by the blow and “a little bit off colour” leading as per his coach Katich. It remains to be seen if he will play.
Royal Challengers are out of the tournament and they have looked completely listless in IPL 2017. They will need to do well in the last few games to salvage what remains of their reputation. One does not expect much from them though. This should be an easy win for KKR, and will push them into the play-offs.
The Teams
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Mandeep Singh, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Kedar Jadhav (wk), 6 Shane Watson/Travis Head, 7 Pawan Negi, 8 S Aravind, 9 Samuel Badree, 10 Aniket Choudhary, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal
Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Gautam Gambhir (capt), 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Robin Uthappa/Sheldon Jackson (wk), 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Yusuf Pathan, 6 Suryakumar Yadav, 7 Colin de Grandhomme, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Nathan Coulter-Nile/Piyush Chawla, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Kuldeep Yadav
Watch Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Kolkata Knight Riders at 4 pm live on Sony Six!
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