Virat Kohli and Co. will look to get their IPL 2019 campaign back on track as Royal Challengers Bangalore take on the Kolkata Knight Riders at home on Friday night. It has been a disastrous start for Royal Challengers Bangalore as they have lost all four of their matches thus far. Nothing has gone right for them. Starting right from their collapse for 70 runs at Chepauk to their below par outing in Jaipur, their performance has been absolutely shambolic. Their batting department, which consists of international stars like Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Shimron Hetmyer, has failed time and again. Only Parthiv Patel's performance with the bat has been a silver lining for them.
Bowling has been equally poor as the pacers have leaked runs consistently. Even though Umesh Yadav came good in a couple of games, he failed to make an impression in the other two. The only bowler who has held things together for their bowling lineup is Yuzvendra Chahal. He has been at his wicket-taking best despite the failure of other bowlers to support him.
Kolkata Knight Riders, on the other hand, have made a fairly good start to the tournament. They won both of their opening games before going down narrowly to Delhi Capitals in a Super Over thriller. Their batsmen, especially Nitish Rana, Robin Uthappa and Dinesh Karthik, have been in good form. However, they have had to depend heavily on Andre Russell's batting abilities in
Virat Kohli and Co. will look to get their IPL 2019 campaign back on track as Royal Challengers Bangalore take on the Kolkata Knight Riders at home on Friday night. It has been a disastrous start for Royal Challengers Bangalore as they have lost all four of their matches thus far. Nothing has gone right for them. Starting right from their collapse for 70 runs at Chepauk to their below par outing in Jaipur, their performance has been absolutely shambolic. Their batting department, which consists of international stars like Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Shimron Hetmyer, has failed time and again. Only Parthiv Patel's performance with the bat has been a silver lining for them.
Bowling has been equally poor as the pacers have leaked runs consistently. Even though Umesh Yadav came good in a couple of games, he failed to make an impression in the other two. The only bowler who has held things together for their bowling lineup is Yuzvendra Chahal. He has been at his wicket-taking best despite the failure of other bowlers to support him.
Kolkata Knight Riders, on the other hand, have made a fairly good start to the tournament. They won both of their opening games before going down narrowly to Delhi Capitals in a Super Over thriller. Their batsmen, especially Nitish Rana, Robin Uthappa and Dinesh Karthik, have been in good form. However, they have had to depend heavily on Andre Russell's batting abilities in all three games thus far. His blitz towards the final overs played a pivotal role in both of their victories and also enabled them to take their match close against Delhi. Bowling wise, they would like to improve their ability of restricting the run flow. It is definitely an area which needs some work. If they can tighten up their bowling a bit, they can definitely go on to yield positive results more comfortably.
Weather and Pitch conditions: Weather is expected to remain clear. The pitch is going to be a a paradise for batsmen. The short boundaries will help the batsmen more. The bowlers, however, are going to have a hard time here. Scores of 190+ can be expected across both innings.
Player Recommendations:
Wicket-keeper: Parthiv Patel (8.5 Cr)
Patel has been the only consistent batsman in Bangalore's misfiring batting unit this season. He played a superb hand of 67 off just 41 deliveries in the last match. He looks in good touch and should do well once again on this kind of deck.
Batsman: Virat Kohli (11 Cr)
Kohli may not have looked at his best during his last innings but his best is always just one good innings away. The Chinnaswamy track will give him that chance to redeem his and Bangalore's chances this season once again. He will definitely make it big if he gets off to a good start.
All-Rounder: Andre Russell (10 Cr)
Andre Russell has been in superb all-round form so far. A 28 ball knock of 62 runs was followed by a superb spell of 1 for 28 in the last match against Delhi. You can bank on him once again considering the kind of form he is in.
Bowler: Umesh Yadav (8.5 Cr)
The Bangalore speedster may not be the first choice bowler for many fantasy managers but some initial movement and swing at Chinnaswamy may see him getting away with at least a couple of wickets. Bowlers are bound to go for runs in this match but if anyone has the ability of taking wickets, then it is this man.
Captain: Andre Russell
Vice Captain: Virat Kohli
Predicted XI:
RCB: Parthiv Patel, Marcus Stoinis, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Shimron Hetmyer, Moeen Ali, Akshdeep Nath (wk), Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj
KKR: Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (c/wk), Shubman Gill, Andre Russell, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Prasidh Krishna
