The Kolkata Knight Riders are facing a challenging situation as they struggle with injuries to key players. Recently, Shreyas Iyer and Shakib Al Hasan have been ruled out of the IPL season, and Litton Das and Lockie Ferguson are also unavailable due to injuries. This has left the team with only five international players, putting pressure on newly appointed captain Nitish Rana to lead the team forward in the competition. To address the situation, KKR has made some changes in their playing XI, with Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Mandeep Singh replacing Venkatesh Iyer as openers. Gurbaz had an impressive IPL season in 2022, with a strike rate of 150, and will be followed by Anukul Roy in a one-down position. However, this KKR top-order may not be very intimidating for their opponents. The middle order of the KKR team comprises Venkatesh Iyer, skipper Nitish Rana, and Andre Russell, who are all known for their dangerous batting skills. Nitish Rana, in particular, will be expected to deliver another captain’s innings, although he has a poor record against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Andre Russell, on the other hand, has been in excellent form against RCB in his last six matches, with a strike rate of over 200 and 22 sixes to his name. In the first game of the season, Shreyas Iyer played an innings of 34 runs from 28 balls, but KKR’s team management will be looking for more from him. Overall, the KKR team will need to step up their game and overcome their injury woes if they hope to compete at a high level in the IPL this season.
The RCB fans have been eagerly waiting for a season like this, and their team has already given them a glimpse of what’s to come. In their first match, the opening duo of Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis provided a lot of entertainment at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, as they chased down a target of 172 runs set by Mumbai. Du Plessis played a brilliant inning of 73 runs from 43 balls, including 6 sixes and 5 fours. In the past, he has been the second-highest run-scorer for South Africa, with 369 runs in 11 matches and a strike rate of 147.60. He has also scored 229 runs in his last four matches against the same opposition. Virat Kohli, the former captain of RCB, has also shown some great form with his bat. In the first game, he scored 82 runs from 49 balls, with the last 32 runs coming from just 11 balls. Could he be a contender to break his own record of scoring 973 runs in a single season? It’s certainly possible. Kohli has a good track record at the Eden Gardens, having scored a century there before. The wickets of Kohli and du Plessis could make all the difference in the match. RCB will also be happy to know that Glenn Maxwell is fit and available for the game. He played a cameo in the first match, hitting a couple of massive sixes. The middle order of RCB will be managed by players such as Shabaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik, and Michael Bracewell. However, they will miss the services of Reece Topley, who dislocated his shoulder in the first game. This injury may lead to David Willey coming back into the side. In terms of bowling, Karan Sharma and Mohammad Siraj were the top performers for RCB in the first game. Sharma picked up 2 wickets, while Siraj was economical in picking up 1 wicket for just 21 runs. Siraj is expected to lead the bowling attack for RCB once again. More IPL prediction for today can be obtained from the link provided.
