Royal Challengers Bangalore are on paper the best side in the IPL. And why not, they have got three of the best batsmen in T20 cricket – Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle. This is a dream team for sure. Has there ever been a side like this?
Well, all the batting power in the world hasn’t stopped RCB from losing four out of the six matches played so far in the IPL. It’s fair to say the Virat Kohli and his men have had a disastrous IPL 2016. Their fortunes seem to have sunk much like that of their owner, Vijay Mallya, who faces arrest after defaulting on a loan worth $1.2 billion.
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Kolkata Knight Riders are a really strong side and there is a real risk of RCB losing again this evening. If they do, it would be difficult to make a comeback in this tournament with five defeats in seven matches, so they might as well bid their chances of winning IPL 2016 goodbye.
This just goes to show the importance of balance in cricket. You can have the best batsmen in the world, but if your bowling is mediocre and leaks runs, there isn’t really much that even the likes of Kohli, Gayle and de Villiers can do for you. There has to be a lesson in this somewhere!
Indeed, the only bowler in the RCB side who has done well is Shane Watson, who is playing as an all-rounder. Watson is the only RCB bowler who has gone for under 9 runs an over. The rest have leaked like the Titanic!
As for Kolkata Knight Riders, they have a solid team, led ably by Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa at the top of the order. Their bowling attack is perhaps the best in the IPL 2016. They have done well for the most part in this tournament, except for the match against Delhi Daredevils, where they contrived to lose 6 wickets for just 52 runs in 5 overs.
Umesh Yadav has been the standout bowler for the Knight Riders. He is fast and effective and also economical. He has picked up 6 wickets in 6 matches, at an average of 14.88 which is impressive.
Indeed, the entire Kolkata Knight Riders bowling attack has performed creditably. Andre Russell is their most important player, who bowls fast and scores big runs. He has emerged as a real star in T20 cricket.
KL Rahul has performed well for RCB as a wicketkeeper and has scored important runs. He has changed his game somewhat and adapted it to T20 cricket, which is great. Chris Gayle is back from the West Indies and he should take his spot at the top of the RCB batting line-up.
The Teams
Royal Challengers Bangalore : 1 Virat Kohli (capt), 2 Chris Gayle, 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Shane Watson, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Sachin Baby/Kedar Jadhav, 7 Parvez Rasool, 8 Varun Aaron, 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Tabraiz Shamsi, 11 S Aravind/Abu Nechim.
Kolkata Knight Riders : 1 Gautam Gambhir (capt), 2 Robin Uthappa (wk), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Shakib Al Hasan, 5 Yusuf Pathan, 6 Andre Russell, 7 Jason Holder/Colin Munro, 8 R Sathish, 9 Piyush Chawla, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Sunil Narine
Match Conditions
The Bangalore pitch is one that favours batsman – a lot. There have been close to 400 runs scored on this track already, with only 2 games played. Expect more of the same. Bowlers will have a wretched time. The weather department expects light showers this evening in Bangalore.
Watch Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Kolkata Knight Riders tonight at 8:00 pm live on Sony Six!
