IPL 2017

Rejuvenated RCB eye winning momentum; KKR aim to bounce back

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Kolkata Knight Riders slipped to the second spot on the points table after losing to Gujarat Lions
Kolkata Knight Riders slipped to the second spot on the points table after losing to Gujarat Lions © BCCI

Just as you step out of the Dum Dum airport in Kolkata and head into the city, two things would hit you almost immediately - the unrelenting humidity and the unquantifiable hustle and bustle. And if you are someone who is used to a long, breezy drive from the airport before encountering a beeline of vehicles in the city, Kolkata's cacophony will catch you off guard.

Amid all these elements, the Knight Riders still manage to catch your attention even as you are shoving your bag away in that cab, making space for yourself and asking the chauffeur to crank up the air-conditioner further. One of the first hoardings that you come across is that of Gautam Gambhir sporting that rare smile, half-smile rather, alongside his teammates while endorsing their jersey partners. You drive down a few hundred meters and there stands a huge Virat Kohli hoarding, of him smiling at you while dressed in an ethnic attire. Then there's some more of KKR, some more of Kohli and by the time, you reach your destination, you wouldn't know if you were in Kolkata or Bengaluru. The Sunday crowd at the Eden would stand divided, they wouldn't love their team any lesser but they would not be able to stop fan-boying about the Chris Gayles, the AB de Villiers, the Kohlis either. The last time these two teams met here at the Eden Gardens, the support was bisected and the sell-out crowd would once again come in, hoping for a KKR win, wishing for a Gaylestorm, an ABD special and some Kohli magic.

The morale seemed a little low in the team hotel on the eve of the match, following their maiden loss at home this season. In the optional practice session, not too many of the front-liners turned up. While the likes of Piyush Chawla and Sunil Narine bowled a bit before tonking a few balls away, the extras in the form of Rovman Powell, Darren Bravo, Sheldon Jackson and Sayan Ghosh spent some time honing their skills. In scenarios like these, where the teams have just one day to recover in between games, you cannot blame the players giving the pre-match practice a skip.

The home side's losses to Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Lions were similar in more ways than one. On both occasions, the opponents changed the complexion of the game at the back end and won the game by four wickets. While MI knocked down 64 runs in the last five, GL had a far more comfortable equation, needing only 42 off 30, having done the tough job earlier. KKR, in their wins, have been able to mask their loopholes well but every time it has stood exposed, it has made for an intensive case study. KKR's pace bowling unit has leaked a lot of runs and while they gunned for overseas pacers like Chris Woakes and Trent Boult in this year's auction, none of them have been consistent enough, with the major worry being controlling their death spillover. On a surface that has been contrasting to the Eden we all knew, this particular loose end has let KKR down on more occasions than one.

The hosts, though, couldn't have expected their batting to fire any better with skipper Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey and Yusuf Pathan all getting amongst the runs. While the KKR think tank has brushed the question away of having a mainstream batsman opening the innings along side their skipper, how long would they be able to surprise the opponents and get the best out of Sunil Narine remains a mystery. Jacques Kallis summed it up in an apt way when he said that his team had not been able to put up a complete game so far.

RCB have always been heavily reliant on their top three but as a matter of fact, Gayle, Kohli and de Villiers have all played together in only one game thus far. And now that all of them have runs under their belt, especially with Gayle coming into his own with a scintillating 38-ball 77, Sunday's contest might see a rejuvenated Bangalore who registered a thumping victory in just their previous outing. De Villiers was seen having a decent hit, shrugging away worries of a troubling back, and Tymal Mills bowled for a fair amount of time in the nets on the match eve. While the batting looks finally settled, their bowling remains a jigsaw puzzle that is still on a look out for the right pieces. With Pawan Negi and Yuzvendra Chahal having ticked the right boxes, Samuel Badree, their powerplay specialist, might continue to miss out. Having two leggies at the Eden might not be the best of ideas and with the wicket aiding more pace and bounce, RCB might go in with two overseas pacers in Adam Milne and Mills. Overall, RCB would stick to their known guns again, expecting their batting to be their stronger arm yet again.

History and Head-to-Head

Both the sides have faced off against each other on as many as 18 occasions in the IPL, with the honours equally shared between the two. If you include the one occasion when KKR locked horns with RCB in a Champions League contest, KKR won that comprehensively, taking the overall T20 head to head numbers to 10-9.

When: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, April 23, 20:00 IST

Where: Eden Gardens, Kolkata

Team News:

Kolkata Knight Riders

The Knight Riders should open with Narine again, unless they decide to trick everyone with another one of their surprise moves, but given Narine's success in the previous game, he would be the first-choice opener. In what could be a shuffle between Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla, the experienced legspinner might get the nod with as many as five right-handers in the top six of the RCB batting line-up.

Probable XI: Gautam Gambhir, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Shakib Al Hasan, Suryakumar Yadav, Chris Woakes, Piyush Chawla, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Umesh Yadav

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Predicting the eleven for the RCB has become an arduous task, especially for the constant rejig that has taken place. Shane Watson would be debated hard and would only make a cut if his batting services are exuding enough confidence, otherwise Mills might find his way back. Milne and Billy Stanlake present very familiar numbers and offer similar pace too, making it a tough pick here as well.

Probable XI: Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Kedar Jadhav, Mandeep Singh, Stuart Binny, Pawan Negi, Adam Milne, Sreenath Arvind, Tymal Mills, Yuzvendra Chahal

What they said:

"I love to bowl on flat wickets. I don't like bowling on turning wickets. It is more difficult to beat the batsman, whereas on a flat wicket, you can plan when to bowl the sliders and googly. For me, I like pace on the wicket," Yuzvendra Chahal said on being asked about the different nature of the Eden surface. "I think he [AB de Villiers] is ready to play tomorrow. I don't know about (Tymal) Mills," Chahal added.

"We have reached nearly 40 wickets, if you compare it with other teams. See, it is about wickets, don't go by runs because as a bowler, you game destination is decided by the number of wickets. You may bowl a couple of maidens, but wickets are a very important aspect for the bowler. So in that aspect, I think, we have done really well. We will definitely improve in the couple of areas we have found out, the boys are up for it. We have quality bowlers and it is about adaptation. The tournament is six-week long, so you slowly educate yourself for the next phase, i.e the powerplays and death overs," Lakshmipathy Balaji, the KKR bowling coach, said when asked if the bowling department was letting the side down.

Did you know?

- Chris Gayle has scored 339 runs in five innings against KKR at Eden Gardens with a hundred and two fifties.

- RCB is the only team to score at less than seven in the powerplay this season (6.83). Last year, they were the only side to score at above eight (8.10).

- RCB have used 19 players so far this season - the joint most by any team along side RPS in this edition.

- Since 2013, KKR haven't lost a game at the Eden Gardens while chasing.

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