IPL 2017| Match 46 Preview: Royal Challengers Bangalore Vs Kolkata Knightriders

05/06/2017

The RCB side will look to salvage some of their wounded pride when they take on the Kolkata Knight Riders at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium today evening. Virat Kohli and his side have endured a dismal season and would want to give their fans something to cheer about, as KKR look to make the playoffs.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore have only pride to play for in their last home game and the home side fans would definitely want to witness a win. The RCB side once again faltered in the match against Kings XI Punjab when they failed to chase a lowly score of 138 losing the match by 19 runs. The big three in the RCB batting line-up have failed to fire this tournament and that has made the RCB side look weak. The bowling, spearheaded by Yuzvendra Chahal and splendidly backed up by Pawan Negi and Aniket Choudhary has been RCB's only positive this season.

The Kolkata Knight Riders will be the side with everything to lose against RCB. The Kolkata side will take on RCB after a 4-wicket defeat at the hands of Rising Pune Supergiants. The last two matches have showcased the dependency of the Kolkata Knightriders batting lineup on their top three batsmen. The Knightriders bowling has been economical throughout the tournament and has beautifully complemented the batting. The KKR side needs nothing less than a win to confirm their playoff spot.

Head to Head:

Kolkata lead 10-9.

Last Meeting:

The last meeting saw the RCB dismissed for 49 by the amazing Kolkata pacemen who won the match for the home side by 82 runs

Predicted XI:

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Chris Gayle, Mandeep Singh, Virat Kohli (c), Kedar Jadhav (wk), A Choudhary, Tymal Mills, Yuzvendra Chahal, Samuel Badree, Sreenath Aravind, AB de Villiers, Pawan Negi.

Kolkata Knightriders: Gautam Gambhir (c), Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa (wk), Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Suryakumar Yadav, Colin de Grandhomme, Chris Woakes, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Umesh Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav

Fan Predictions: As part of the preview, we bring to you fan predictions for the talking points of the game. The predictions are sourced from the newest fantasy game on the block – Nostragamus. If you want to make your predictions and win prizes, click here.

Who will win?

A. KKR B. RCB

KKR holds an advantage of 10-9 in the 19 Head to Head matches they have played against RCB in IPL. However, at Bengaluru, RCB holds a 4-2 advantage. In IPL 2017, RCB have been one of the worst teams as they have won only 2 matches and have lost 9. On the other hand, KKR have won 7 matches and lost 4. Both the teams are coming off from a loss, but KKR clearly seems to be the better among the 2 with a solid bowling attack and batting lineup. RCB have been very bad considering their form this season, especially their batting has been one of the worst in the IPL. Hence we predict KKR to win this fixture.

Which skipper will score more runs?

A. Gambhir B. Kohli

In IPL 2017 so far, Gambhir has scored 411 runs whereas Kohli has scored 245 runs. And in the earlier reverse fixture, Gambhir had scored 14 runs while Kohli was out for a golden duck. Kohli, just like his team, has been struggling to get runs in this season's IPL. His recent scores are 0, 10, 55, 20 and 6. On the other hand, Gambhir has been in good touch in this season and his recent scores are 14,62, 71*,11 and 24. Hence we predict Gautam Gambhir to outscore Virat Kohli in this fixture.

Key Players:

Yuzvendra Chahal (RCB)- The leg-spinner has been consistently brilliant for the lacklustre RCB side this tournament. Apart from being economical, Chahal has struck for his side at key moments and has restricted the opposition to small scores. RCB will be banking on the leggie for another brilliant performance.

Gautam Gambhir (KKR)- The skipper has led from the front this season and has amassed 411 runs at an average of over 51. Gambhir has been amazing for his side this year and has played scintillating match-winning knocks to keep his side in the top half of the table.

Pre-Match chatter:

"Tomorrow is a 4 pm game, and we saw the game last night and we saw that Bangalore's spinners did well, as did Axar Patel and Glenn Maxwell. From that point of view, spin bowling is going to play a big role and our spinners are looking forward to that challenge", Simon Katich, on the newly-laid wicket at the Chinnaswamy.

Venue: M Chinnaswamy stadium, Bangalore

Time: 4 pm

TV Listings: Sony Six, Sony Six HD, Set Max, Sony ESPN