IPL: Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore Match Preview

In the VIVO IPL 2018 the 3rd match in between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore who will open their season with this match.This match will start today at  20:00Hrs (IST),at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.KKR, who will be led by the ever-bustling Dinesh Karthik this season, have several players from the squad that made the journey to the Playoffs last season. The team retained Andre Russell and Sunil Narine, and then signed back several players at the Player Auction.

The team suffered a blow in the days leading to the start of this season when Mitchell Starc, who was expected to be the team’s bowling spearhead, was ruled out because of a stress fracture. However, they have been able to procure the services ofEngland’s Tom Curran as a replacement. There were questionmarks over the participation of Chris Lynn, who injured his shoulder while playing for Australia in February; but the 27-year old has been seen striking the ball in the nets and stands a good chance of featuring in the playing XI. KKR have the smallest squad of all the teams; they have only 19 players on their roster, and hence it is important that the first-choice players hit the turf running from match one.

RCB announced they would retain Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Sarfaraz Khan and then used the Right to Match card in the auction to secure the services of YuzvendraChahal. The team also signed up Brendon McCullum (possibly a like-for-like replacement for the released Chris Gayle), Quinton de Kock and Kiwi all-rounders Corey Anderson and Colin de Grandhomme.RCB have several exciting home grown players too; among the batsmen, they have Mandeep Singh and Manan Vohra, while among the bowlers they have Umesh Yadav and the exciting Delhi fast bowling duo of Navdeep Saini and Kulwant Khejroliya. Not to forget the teenage all-rounder Washington Sundar, who has quickly established himself as a reliable performer with the ball.

About Batsmen:The last time these two teams met, Sunil Narine shredded the RCB bowlers – not with the ball, but with the bat; the Trinidadian scored the (equal) fastest 50 in the IPL, needing only 15 balls to reach the milestone. Narine opening the batting is a bit of a hit-or-miss strategy; yet, the days he gets going, he will put the team in a solid position. KKR might considering toying with that idea in this game, given the scars from Narine’s assault in the previous meeting are still fresh in memory. Given the dearth of experienced batsmen in the squad and very limited options available to choose from, Chris Lynn and captain Dinesh Karthik – who will be playing his first game since the match-winning last ball six in Sri Lanka – will be expected to make big contributions with the bat.

RCB yet again have a solid batting line-up, and unlike the past where it was top-heavy, this season they have quality batting options right through. However, there will still be dependence on the top-order – likely to comprise Brendon McCullum (or Quinton de Kock), Virat Kohli & AB de Villiers – to do the bulk of the damage.

About Bowlers:Notwithstanding the fact that the surface at the Eden Gardens has assisted the quick bowlers in recent times, for sheer class, their ability to strangle the batsmen and for their ability to pick up wickets, it will the spinners on both sides who will be under the spotlight in this match. KKR have Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav in their ranks, while YuzvendraChahal and WashingtonSundar will most likely feature in the RCB XI.

These two teams palyed head to head in 20 matches.In that KKR won 11 matches and RCB won remaining 9 matches.The record of total 8 matches between those two at Eden Gardens and in that KKR won 5 and RCB won 3 matches.

The captain winning the toss opted to chase in each of the 7 IPL matches played at the Eden Gardens last season.

In the seven IPL matches played at the Eden Gardens last season, quick bowlers picked up a total of 61 wickets (at strike-rate of a wicket every 16.5 balls), while the spinners collected 24 wickets at a strike-rate of a wicket every 23 deliveries.

Only 3 players have captained the Kolkata Knight Riders in the ten seasons of the IPL so far – namely Sourav Ganguly, Brendon McCullum and Gautam Gambhir. Dinesh Karthik will become the 4th player to lead the franchise.