Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Indian Premier League (IPL), Today Match Prediction 05 Apr 2019

rcb vs kkr Match Prediction & Analysis

Royal Challengers Bangalore came into the tournament as one of the strong teams but they are having the worst start to the tournament. They are the only team yet to win a match after 4 matches.

Parthiv Patel`s form looks good at the top and is seems lone warrior with the bat. Virat Kohli is having a rare failure and he is yet to make a mark this year. Shimron Hetmyer might be dropped after four consecutive single digit scores. Marcus Stoinis had a good game with the bat and ball last match and is welcome addition to RCB team. Mohammed Siraj and Yuzvendra Chahal seems to be the only bowlers causing trouble to the batsmen. They are getting no support from the other end and runs are given away at over 10 RPO by all the other bowlers.

Kolkata Knight Riders have been in excellent form this season winning two matches and losing their lone match in a super over contest. Nitish Rana and Robin Uthappa has been in excellent form scoring runs consistently at the top. Andre Russell is having a dream tournament with the bat and ball smacking sixes for fun. Skipper Dinesh Karthik scored an excellent fifty after his team slumped to 60/5 inside 10 overs.

Their bowling is a bit of concern with opposition scoring over 180 runs in all the three matches. Kuldeep Yadav came back strongly last match and almost defended 6 runs off the final over taking it into super over. Piyush Chawla and Sunil Narine are not having a great impact with their bowling this season. Prasidh Krishna bowled a superb super over giving away just 10 runs but he was overshadowed by the class of Kagiso Rabada.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Royal Challengers Bangalore Preview

Key Players:

AB de Villiers – AB de Villiers failed to seal off chase after remaining 70 not out last match at Bangalore. He will look to make amends for that with a big score this match. 

Yuzvendra Chahal – Chahal has been the lone bright spot light in the RCB bowling line-up.  He has been taking wickets consistently and he returns to his favorable Bangalore conditions. 

Stats from the season:

Parthiv Patel - 138 runs, Strike rate – 130, HS -67, 50s-1

Yuzvendra Chahal – 8 wickets, Economy – 6.6 RPO, BB – 4/38

Royal Challengers Bangalore Predicted Playing XI:

Parthiv Patel (wk), Moeen Ali, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Marcus Stoinis, Akshadeep Nath, Yuzvendra Chahal, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Tim Southee/Nathan CoulterNile, Pawan Negi

Royal Challengers Bangalore Actual Playing XI:

M Siraj, Pawan Negi, Marcus Stoinis, Virat Kohli, YS Chahal, AB de Villiers, Akshdeep Nath, Moeen Ali, Parthiv Patel, NA Saini, TG Southee

Kolkata Knight Riders Preview

Key Players:

Nitish Rana – Rana is having a superb season with a couple of 60+ scores in the three matches played so far. He sets the KKR`s batting momentum with his responsible batting at the top.

Kuldeep Yadav – Kuldeep is slowly returning to his best with the ball. He was excellent with the ball last match at the death giving away just 8 runs in the 18th and 20th over combined. 

Stats from the season:

Andre Russell - 159 runs, Strike rate – 248, HS -62, 50s-1 & 5 wickets, Economy – 9 RPO, BB – 2/21

Nitish Rana – 132 runs, Strike rate – 159, HS -68, 50s-2 

Kolkata Knight Riders Actual Playing XI:

Sunil Narine, RV Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik, Shubman Gill, Chris Lynn, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Lockie Ferguson, Piyush Chawla, Andre Russell

Weather Conditions

Bangalore pitch is known be a batting paradise and batsmen might score a lot of runs. The smaller ground size and fast outfield further helps the batsmen score boundaries with ease. Spinners might enjoy certain amount of success in this pitch as the ball might turn and grip. Bengaluru has a hot and humid climate and it might bring in dew factor in the second innings.

Toss: WIN the toss, BOWL First

Any score is not safe in the Bangalore pitch with its smaller dimensions and teams would be fully aware of it. Both captains will love to chase down the target set by the opposition team.