KKR is ahead in terms of face-offs against RCB, having won 17 and lost 14. However, in their last six IPL clashes, RCB has emerged victorious on four occasions.
Digital Desk: The IPL's halfway point has arrived, and the top seven teams are fighting for positions in the final four in a very competitive battle. One of these teams is Royal Challengers Bangalore, who for the first time in IPL 2023 have recorded back-to-back victories and will be attempting to complete a hat-trick when they host KKR. However, since Brendon McCullum set the tone for the IPL in the opening game in 2008, they haven't had a strong home record against the Knight Riders. The last time RCB defeated KKR at home was back in 2015. Now, facing a Knight Riders club that is under pressure after four straight losses, RCB will be looking to snap the losing streak.
This will be the RCB's sixth and final home game before they go on a five-match road stretch. They haven't turned the Chinnaswamy Stadium into their fortress, as they have in the past, losing two of the five games that have been played there. Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell, and Virat Kohli have accounted for 78.6% of the runs that the RCB players have scored this season in their batting order. The totals RCB finished within their last two games show that despite their bowlers masking these flaws, a flimsy middle-order hasn't been able to build on the strong beginnings.
With 17 wickets lost in the first six overs, the highest of any club in the 2017 IPL, KKR's batting in the powerplay has shown to be their Achilles Heel. This has resulted in them having a lot of catching up to do, both when establishing targets and chasing.
While the pace department has been a disappointment for the club, KKR's spinners Varun CV, Sunil Narine, and Suyansh Sharma have been doing all the heavy lifting with the ball.
Umesh Yadav, who excelled in the powerplay the season before, has only taken one wicket, while the rest have also performed poorly. An obvious problem for KKR is the pacers' collective economy rate of 12.46.
When: Wednesday, April 26 at 7:30 PM IST
Where: Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
Head to head: KKR is ahead in terms of face-offs against RCB, having won 17 and lost 14. However, in their last six IPL clashes, RCB has emerged victorious on four occasions.
Probable XI: Virat Kohli (c), Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Suyash Prabhudessai, Wanindu Hasaranga, David Willey, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj. Impact Player - Vyshak Vijaykumar.
Probable XI: N Jagadeesan (wk), Jason Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (c), Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, David Wiese, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy. Impact Player - Suyansh Sharma.
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