This Indian Premier League 2018 has not really gone well for Royal Challengers Bangalore. They have the worst bowling attack in the IPL, which has been smashed for over 200 runs in 3 out of six games. This is as bad as it gets.
With players like Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, two of the best batsmen in the world, one would have expected RCB to make it to the top of the IPL. But from what we have seen, RCB look destined to be a part of the bottom-2, as they have been for much of their IPL history.
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Seriously, you would expect an IPL team that has had Virat Kohli for 11 years, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle for many years, to perform better. But that’s not the case with RCB and we have no idea why.
Kolkatan Knight Riders start as firm favorites for this game. They chased down 177comfortably in the first game between the two sides at Eden Gardens where RCB were ambushed for the second time by Sunil Narine, who smashed a 50 off 17 balls.
There is a clear gulf between KKR and RCB. KKR are led by a humble cricketer, Dinesh Karthik, who really is the polar opposite of Virat Kohli. But perhaps that is the difference. Unlike RCB, where everything revolves around superstars such as Kohli and de Villiers, KKR have a more balanced outfit, led by the biggest T20 superstar of all, Andre Russell.
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Russell is very important to KKR, and it is very important for them that he stays fit. He and Sunil Narine are the two players with the X factor in their team. Karthik will be careful not to ask too much out of Russell, who is struggling with a persistent hamstring injury.
For RCB, left-arm pacer Kulwant Khejroliya could return in place of Mohammad Siraz who has not done too well so far.
Prediction: KKR to win, unless we have an “ABD” special.
The Teams
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Manan Vohra, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Mandeep Singh, 6 Colin de Grandhomme, 7 Pawan Negi, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal
Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Chris Lynn, 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Robin Uthappa, 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Dinesh Karthik (capt, wk), 6 Andre Russell, 7 Shubman Gill, 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Shivam Mavi
Watch Royal Challengers Bangalore play Kolkata Knight Riders tonight at 8 pm live on Star Sports!
