Chennai: The revamped Royal Challengers Bangalore will take on Kolkata Knight Riders at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai in the Indian Premier League on Sunday (April 18). A fixture that promises to be full of fireworks as both sides possess some of the cleanest strikers of the ball.
Virat Kohli’s side is the only unbeaten team till now in this season having won both their games so far. Their bowlers performed well in the last match leading to a six-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad with Shahbaz Ahmed (3/7) starring the show alongside Mohammad Siraj (2/25) and their leading wicket-taker Harshal Patel (2/25).
Though still in the early days, Bangalore is by far the most improved squad this season especially their bowling which had been heavily criticised for taking 18 wickets in two games.
Glenn Maxwell who hit a 41 ball 59 in the last game lived up to his expectation but they have to be careful against a good all-round side like KKR. Siraj and Patel will have their work cut out against Nitish Rana who has been in blazing form. As far as the playing XI is concerned, Daniel Sams who is out of his quarantine period can come into the side in place of Daniel Christian.
Kolkata though will like to erase off their horrendous batting display in the last game against Mumbai where they surprisingly failed to chase down 153 despite a good start from Rana with their middle-order collapsing in front of Rahul Chahar’s trickery.
Despite that result, the emergence of Andre Russell as death bowler and the fairly successful opening duo of Rana and Shubman Gill has been a breath of fresh air for Eoin Morgan’s side. Besides That Shakib-al-Hassan’s inclusion also a good positive for them who created pressure on Mumbai’s batting in those crucial middle over.
The only thing they require is their hard-hitting middle order to fire in all cylinders. Skipper Morgan will probably opt for an unchanged side on a surface that can get drier in the afternoon as the game will progress.
