Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will take on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the 36th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL). RCB has won back-to-back matches for the first time this season and has a good chance of scoring a hat-trick of wins and climbing to the third spot in the table. KKR haven’t been in the best of form at all but their record against RCB at the Chinnaswamy Stadium will be a lot of encouragement for the team. KKR hasn’t lost to RCB in Bangalore since 2015 and will look to snap their four-match losing streak.
Another defeat in this match will make things worse for Nitish Rana and his team in terms of qualifying for the playoffs. For KKR to have any chance, their powerplay batting needs to improve and with Mohammed Siraj with the ball, the task looks almost impossible. Meanwhile, RCB will need to find at least one player outside Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli, and Glenn Maxwell to contribute with the bat. The much-loved trio has scored 78.6% of the runs scored by the team this season.
tally details
Match: IPL 2023, Match 36
Venue: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Broadcast and Live Streaming: Star Sports Network and JioCinema
Probable Playing XI
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (c), Faf du Plessis, Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Maxwell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Suyash Prabhudesai, David Willey, Wanindu Hasaranga, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj
Kolkata Knight Riders: N Jagadeesan (wk), Jason Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (c), Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, David Wiese, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakraborty
pitch and weather report
It has been a high-scoring surface at the Chinnaswamy Stadium with chasing being the preferred option. Even if a team bats first, they would want to score more than 220, which CSK did and somehow defended the total. Expect the team that wins the toss to bowl first.
Currently, the weather in Bangalore is cloudy and scattered with thundershower expected soon. However, by the time the match starts, the chance of rain drops significantly to 7%. Even if it rains, things should clear up soon enough for the game to start on time. Cloudy conditions are expected during the match.
predictions
Batsman of the match: Faf du Plessis
RCB captain Faf du Plessis has been playing as an impact player for the last two matches and has scored well. He currently holds the Orange Cap with 405 runs in seven matches. Du Plessis has been one of the most consistent batsmen and looking at the state of the KKR batsmen, it is clear that he is ready to put up another stellar performance with the bat.
Bowler of the match: Mohammad Siraj
Mohammad Siraj has turned out to be the best powerplay bowler of this season. He has troubled the batsmen all the time and has hit more times in his first spell. Siraj has taken 13 wickets so far and is second in the race for the Purple Cap.
Who will win the match: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)