In the tenth match of the 2024 edition of the Indian Premier League, Shreyas Iyer’s Kolkata Knight Riders will clash against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Friday.
With Gautam Gambhir again joining KKR as a mentor, it would be a battle to watch out for, as Virat Kohli and Gambhir have an interesting history in the IPL.
What has happened so far?
Royal Challengers Bengaluru are currently occupying the fifth place in the points table with a loss and victory each to their name. The team got off to a poor start as they lost their first match to Chennai Super Kings by six wickets. It was a bad batting performance by the side as they ended up with only 173 runs while losing six wickets in 20 overs in the first innings.
However, RCB made up for the defeat in the second match by hammering Punjab Kings by four wickets. Playing at their home, the Bangalore outfit restricted the Kings to a score of 176 runs as Siraj and Maxwell picked two wickets each. In the second innings, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, and Mahipal Lomror showed their batting excellence with the former skipper scoring 77 runs off 49 balls.
Coming to Kolkata Knight Riders, they had an explosive start to the 2024 edition of the Indian Premier League and are thus occupying the third place in the points table. The two-time champion scored a four-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their opening game.
It was a thrilling encounter as KKR scored 208 runs in the first innings courtesy of Russell’s hard-hitting. Chasing the score, SRH came really close but ended up scoring only 204 runs in 20 overs.
Head to Head Record
Kolkata Knight Riders have an edge over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the head-to-head records. The two teams have faced each other in a total of 32 matches and KKR has emerged victorious on 18 occasions while the remaining 14 games saw RCB winning the battle.
Key Players
Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bengaluru): Following a below-average performance in his first match of the Indian Premier League 2024, Virat Kohli got back to form in the second match against Punjab Kings.
He took home the Player of the Match award for hammering 77 runs off 49 balls at a strike rate of over 157 to help Royal Challengers Bengaluru chase 177 runs in the allotted 20 overs. The chances of Kohli continuing his good form against Kolkata Knight Riders are high, considering the team would be playing at the same venue with similar playing conditions.
Andre Russell (Kolkata Knight Riders): Kolkata Knight Riders will be again relying on Andre Russell to take them home as they will fight a battle against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Friday. In addition, The M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore is one of his favorite batting tracks and the power-hitter has scored plenty of runs at the venue.
Russell was the best performer for the Kolkata Knight Riders in their first match of IPL 2024
The hard-hitting batter was absolutely sensational in the first match against Sunrisers Hyderabad as he hammered the bowlers all over the park. Russell smacked an unbeaten 64 runs off just 25 balls with the help of three boundaries and seven maximums.
Team News from Both Camps
After missing the last season because of injury, Iyer is back in the squad this year to lead the Kolkata Knight Riders.
They also have a big change in their management group as Gambhir has once again joined the franchise to essay the role of the mentor for the 2024 edition of the Indian Premier League. This can be an enormous advantage for the Knight Riders, as it was under the leadership of Gambhir that they won the title in 2012 and 2014.
Speaking of Royal Challengers Bengaluru, they have all the players available for selection as there are no injury concerns.
However, the team might experiment with the batting line-up like they did in their last match against Punjab Kings. Cameron Green can be again sent up the order to bat at number with Rajat Patidar and Maxwell at four and five respectively.
Predicted XIs
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Faf du Plessis ©, Virat Kohli, Cameron Green, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Anuj Rawat (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Alzarri Joseph, Mayank Dagar, Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal
Kolkata Knight Riders: Phil Salt (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer ©, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy
Prediction
Both Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bengaluru would be in high spirits as they put up a dominating performance in their respective last matches to score a victory.
However, the chances of RCB winning the Friday content are high as they will be playing on their home pitch and have the support of the home crowd. In addition, the team delivered a top-notch performance against Punjab Kings and excelled in all three facets of the game be it batting, bowling, or fielding.