Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have started their Indian Premier League 2023 (IPL 2023) campaign with an emphatic win against five-time IPL champion, Mumbai Indians (MI). Virat Kohli and captain Faf du Plessis led the run chase after the bowlers restrict MI to 171.
Today, we will preview the 9th game of the IPL 2023 which is Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore. The game will be played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata which will see the clash of two good teams.
One team is coming into this game with a win in their first encounter and the other with a loss.
RCB off to a winning start
RCB bowled first after winning the toss and the pacers were on the money in the powerplay. MI were 29 for 3 after the first 6 overs. All three pacers, M Siraj, Akash Deep, and Reece Topley got a wicket each.
M Bracewell came into the attack and got SK Yadav and MI was in trouble with 48 for 4. Then, the two Indian youngsters Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera started the consolidation for MI and stitched a 50 run stand for the 5th wicket. But that was the only 50+ run stand in the inning.
Tilak Varma continued to play well and looked good. But he ran out of partners. In the end, he finished with a score of 84 off 46 balls with 9 fours and 4 sixes. Arshad Khan remains not out on 15 off 9 balls.
MI finished with a score of 171. It was a good recovery considering their situation during the first half of the inning.
RCB openers, Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli didn’t give a sniff to the MI bowlers. They were outstanding in the powerplay, scoring 53 in that period.
Both the batters continued to go well after the powerplay and made a match-winning partnership of 148. RCB chased down the target with 8 wickets and 22 balls to spare.
Kolkata Knight Riders didn’t have a great first outing in IPL 2023
KKR, on the other hand, lost their first game against Punjab Kings (PBKS). PBKS batted first and they were off to a flying start with captain Shikhar Dhawan and B Rajapaksa were going hard at the KKR bowlers. The latter scored 50 off just 32 balls with the former also playing a knock of 40.
A few cameos from Prabsimran, Jitesh Sharma, Sam Curran, and Shahrukh Khan help the team to reach the score of 191.
When KKR came out to chase the target, they continue to lose wickets at the regular interval. At one stage, they were 80 for 5 and the target was looking out of their reach.
Then comes the big man Andre Russell and he was looking good till he lasted at the crease. But as soon as he got out, there was trouble for KKR at the run chase.
The rain came in and KKR were 7 runs short of the target at that point of time. They lost the game as no game was played after that.
Now, Royal Challengers Bangalore will look to continue to do well while Kolkata Knight Riders will look to open their account in IPL 2023. Let’s see the predicted playing XI of both teams.
KKR vs RCB Probable Playing XI
RCB’s predicted XI-
Reece Topley dislocated his shoulder while playing against MI. RCB will look to replace him with his English teammate David Willey, who will be a like-for-like replacement. He can also give batting depth to the team as well.
➢ RCB Predicted Playing XI- Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Glenn Maxwell, Dinesh Karthik (wk), M Bracewell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Karn Sharma, Harshal Patel, David Willey, Mohammad Siraj, Akash Deep
KKR’s predicted XI-
If Lockie Ferguson is fit and available, he could replace his New Zealand teammate Tim Southee. Other changes are unlikely.
➢ KKR Predicted Playing XI- R Gurbaz (wk), Mandeep Singh, Nitish Rana (c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Tim Southee/ Lockie Ferguson, Anukul Roy, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy
Players to watch out for
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Virat Kohli
The former RCB skipper started the IPL 2023 with a bang. He is in a rich vein of form and will be the one player to watch out for. If he does well at the top along with Faf, RCB has some fire power in the middle who can do the finishing job.
Mohammad Siraj
Just like Virat at the top in batting, Siraj is crucial at the top in bowling. If he found his rhythm in the first six overs, he will give RCB a good start and can put the pressure on KKR right from the word go. Siraj has the ability to swing the new ball when the conditions are suitable. Eden Gardens pitch has the tendency to assist the pacers at the start of the inning.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Sunil Narine
The mystery spinner can trouble the RCB batters. As we saw in the last couple of years, both Faf and Virat sometimes struggled against these types of spinners. Narine will be key for KKR if they want to restrict RCB to a small total.
Andre Russell
The West Indian hard hitter has done well against RCB in the past as well. The bowlers have fear in their minds against Andre Russell. He can change the game at a fast pace and can be an X factor for KKR.
Nitish didn’t use him as a bowling option in the first game.
Let’s see who will come out good in the clash of RCB vs KKR. Both the teams are good and we can expect a very good game.
