Abu Dhabi: Two-time IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders will take on the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday (October 21).
Amid the much-hyped chaos surrounding the change in captaincy and Sunil Narine’s bowling action, the Kolkata Knight Riders dwell comfortably in the top-half in the points table with ten points in nine games. Despite their batsmen yet to fire collectively this season, KKR have managed to come through in close encounters, which should hold them in good stead in the coming weeks.
With the addition of Lockie Ferguson in the line-up, KKR look like a more well-rounded unit although they would be spending sleepless nights over Andre Russell’s fitness. Nevertheless, Sunil Narine could make a comeback in this fixture, which does bode well for KKR, who are firmly in the race for a playoff spot.
On the other hand, the Royal Challengers Bangalore have performed truly well this season with Chris Morris and Devdutt Padikkal starring with ball and bat respectively.
While the power-duo of AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli continues to attack the rivals with their fine shot-making, RCB have finally found a balance, which has reflected in their form as well. With six wins in nine games, RCB need two more to qualify for the playoffs, and they would try their best to achieve the goal as early as possible.
The last time these two teams met this season, RCB demolished KKR by a vast margin of 82 runs. However, KKR, with a more freshening bowling attack in place, should prove to be a tougher test this time around, and this should make for an absolutely brilliant contest in the campaign this Wednesday.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, Shivam Dube, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Washington Sundar, Isuru Udana, Navdeep Saini, Adam Zampa, Yuzvendra Chahal, Umesh Yadav, Dale Steyn, Parthiv Patel, Moeen Ali, Pawan Negi, Chris Morris, Pavan Deshpande, Mohammed Siraj, Josh Philippe, Shahbaz Ahmed
Kolkata Knight Riders: Dinesh Karthik (wk), Shivam Mavi, Tom Banton, Sandeep Warrier, Kuldeep Yadav, Eoin Morgan (C), Pat Cummins, Sunil Narine, Nikhil Naik, Manimaran Siddharth, Andre Russell, Lockie Ferguson, Prasidh Krishna, Shubman Gill, Nitesh Rana, Siddhesh Lad, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Rinku Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Chris Green, Rahul Tripathi.
