As the playoff qualification race intensifies, Kolkata Knight Riders will be looking to come on level terms with Royal Challengers Bangalore when they lock horns with one another at Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. At present, RCB and KKR occupy the third and fourth places in the points table respectively. And a win would bring the Kolkata-based franchise level on points with RCB. That still won’t make any changes to their positions in the table though, as RCB have a far superior NRR as compared to KKR.
As far as the recent form of the two franchises go, both of them are coming into this encounter on the back of thrilling wins in their previous matches. For RCB, the form of their bowling unit and their main batsmen like Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers is inspiring. KKR, on the other hand, haven’t played to their potential but the arrival of Lockie Ferguson to their XI strengthened their bowling department in the last match. It was his bowling effort that helped KKR in pulling off a win in the Super Over. They would be hopeful of a much better performance this time. It’s high time that their batting clicked.
Team News
RCB don’t have any injury concerns at the moment but looking at KKR’s issues against pace, they might look to fit in an extra pacer in Mohammad Siraj in place of left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed. KKR, on the other hand, could bring Sunil Narine in once again as Andre Russell is expected to sit out of this encounter with a hamstring injury.
Probable Playing XIs
Kolkata Knight Riders
Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan (c), Sunil Narine, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Pat Cummins, Shivam Mavi, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers (wk), Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Washington Sundar, Chris Morris, Shahbaz Ahmed/Mohammad Siraj, Isuru Udana, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal
Fantasy Tips
- Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers have been in top notch form and hence, they are absolute must-have players for your team.
- Chris Morris has nine wickets in the four matches he has played so far. He will be a reliable bowler to have on your team. Yuzvendra Chahal falls in the same category as well.
- As far as KKR batsmen go, Shubman Gill has been their most consistent batsman whereas Eoin Morgan and Rahul Tripathi have shown decent form as well.
- Among KKR bowlers, Lockie Ferguson and Varun Chakravarthy are the most reliable picks. Pat Cummins hasn’t really picked up wickets but he has helped a lot with batting returns.
Fantasy Team
AB de Villiers
Virat Kohli
Shubman Gill
Eoin Morgan
Chris Morris
Sunil Narine
Pat Cummins
Yuzvendra Chahal
Varun Chakravarthy
Lockie Ferguson
Isuru Udana
