Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore will have everything to fight for when they take each other on at the Eden Gardens on Friday night. Things haven't quite gone right for Kolkata in the last three matches. They were sitting pretty at the top of the table with four wins in five matches. They have, however, lost three consecutive matches to drop down to sixth on the league table. Two of those losses have come at home and that leaves them with some catching up to do when they take on Kohli and Co. next at the same venue.
Having said that, Bangalore have their share of struggles to deal with as well. They are right down at the bottom of the table with only one victory in eight matches. They need to win all of their remaining six matches to have an outside chance of qualifying for the playoffs. It seems to be an improbable task but Rajasthan did it last year. So, RCB will be hoping on hope as well.
Both teams have some concerns at the bowling front. They don't have the best of bowling attacks in the league. Moreover, on a pitch favoring batsmen, we may see both batting units go on the rampage. Andre Russell didn't click in the last couple of games for Kolkata and the result was there to be seen. They, however, may need to deal with his absence in this match as he was hit by a bouncer during practice
Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore will have everything to fight for when they take each other on at the Eden Gardens on Friday night. Things haven't quite gone right for Kolkata in the last three matches. They were sitting pretty at the top of the table with four wins in five matches. They have, however, lost three consecutive matches to drop down to sixth on the league table. Two of those losses have come at home and that leaves them with some catching up to do when they take on Kohli and Co. next at the same venue.
Having said that, Bangalore have their share of struggles to deal with as well. They are right down at the bottom of the table with only one victory in eight matches. They need to win all of their remaining six matches to have an outside chance of qualifying for the playoffs. It seems to be an improbable task but Rajasthan did it last year. So, RCB will be hoping on hope as well.
Both teams have some concerns at the bowling front. They don't have the best of bowling attacks in the league. Moreover, on a pitch favoring batsmen, we may see both batting units go on the rampage. Andre Russell didn't click in the last couple of games for Kolkata and the result was there to be seen. They, however, may need to deal with his absence in this match as he was hit by a bouncer during practice session today. RCB depend a lot on Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers as well and they would want them to fire in this all important encounter.
Weather and Pitch conditions: Weather will remain clear. Pitch will be slightly drier as compared to previous match. So, it should assist the spinners better. Pacers will have a hard time bowling. Batsmen should dominate them.
Player Recommendations:
Wicket-keeper: Parthiv Patel
The Gujarat southpaw has been consistently getting his team off to good starts. He has scored a couple of fifties and has a chance to add one more to his rally against Kolkata's bowling lineup.
Batsman: Chris Lynn
Lynn showed what he is capable of in the previous match against the Super Kings with a fabulous innings of 82 off just 51 deliveries. Against a weak RCB bowling unit, he should be at his best once again.
All-Rounder: Sunil Narine
The Caribbean wizard is back on his bowling form. He picked up two wickets in the last match. Moreover, he has a good batting record against RCB. So, we may see him going big with both bat and ball.
Bowler: Piyush Chawla
Chawla has continued to perform quietly. He is getting wickets almost regularly and the dry track will suit his kind of bowling. He has a chance of getting batting time under his belt also as he bats at No. 8. He finds himself amongst the catches also in the field.
Uncapped Player: Navdeep Saini
Bangalore's Navdeep Saini has impressed one and all this season with his 150 Kph thunderbolts. He has a good economy rate and has started to get wickets regularly as well. He has been named as a standby for India's World Cup squad and that in itself is a big endorsement for this young talent.
Captain: Sunil Narine
Vice-Captain: Virat Kohli
Predicted Playing XI:
KKR: Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Shubman Gill, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Harry Gurney
RCB: Parthiv Patel, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Marcus Stoinis, Moeen Ali, Akshdeep Nath, Pawan Negi, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj
