Royal Challengers, Knight Riders aim to bounce back

While KKR is fourth with six points from seven games but coming off two successive defeats, RCB is at the sixth spot with four points from six games. KKR’s last two games saw it lose to Kings XI Punjab (by nine wickets via D/L method) at home and Delhi Daredevils (by 55 runs) at the national capital. 

In Delhi, it allowed the Daredevils to build this IPL season’s highest total of 219/4. While chasing, it was restricted to 164/9, having lost four wickets for just 46 runs in the powerplay KKR will be hoping for an all-round game, since its bolwers and batsmen have not clicked in unison in the past two games.

Its batting department has the likes of skipper Dinesh Karthik, his Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Chris Lynn and all-rounder Andre Russell. KKR’r concern will be its bowling, which has failed to defend even big totals. The spin trio of Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla and Sunil Narine and pacers Shivam Mavi and Tom Curran were plundered by Shreyas Iyer and Prithvi Shaw of Delhi in their last game and will look to bounce back strongly although it will be very difficult at the batting-friendly M Chinnaswamy wicket.

On the other hand, RCB, led by Virat Kohli, has not got any momentum. Its two wins have come against Kings XI and Delhi. In its last match, RCB failed to defend its total of 205/8 against Chennai Super Kings, which rode on half-centuries from Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ambati Rayudu to win by five wickets. 

That loss continued to show RCB’s weakness in its bowling department. The spin duo of Yuzuvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar and seamers Chris Woakes and Umesh Yadav have done well in parts and need to bring their best in order to avoid another defeat which could endanger their playoff chances. In batting, RCB has a top-heavy line-up, with the presence of AB De Villiers (280 runs), Virat Kohli (249 runs) enough to hurt any bowling line-up. Mandeep Singh (171), Quinton de Kock (165) also need to contribute more. 

Bangalore however, has failed to find the perfect opening partnerships, which could be a major cause of concern.

RCB VS KKR @ 8 pm on Star Sports 1, HD 1