Kolkata: An injury-ravaged Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team would find solace in that the game against all-powerful Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) would take place at home here in front of a packed Eden Gardens Stadium and that just might catapult the team to winning ways in the Indian Premier League.
The Kolkata side didn't have the best of starts both inside and outside the field as the team lost to Punjab Kings via Duckworth-Lewis method by seven runs. Outside of it, they have lost two players in Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who opted out due to personal commitments, and skipper Shreyas Iyer. Iyer is nursing a back injury that has forced him out of the tournament.
The dual role that Iyer provides that of captaincy and player messes with the already depleted engine of the KKR's side. As a batter, Iyer gives them the precarious balancing act of stability, experience, and firepower in the batting line-up. While as a skipper, he has the experience of leading his former side, Delhi Capitals, to the play-offs and Kolkata was banking on him to find them the winning formula.
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𝐁𝐨𝐫𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐚 𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐧 🙏#AmiKKR #TATAIPL2023 pic.twitter.com/yCar4qK5TC
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) April 5, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">𝐁𝐨𝐫𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐚 𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐧 🙏#AmiKKR #TATAIPL2023 pic.twitter.com/yCar4qK5TC
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) April 5, 2023𝐁𝐨𝐫𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐚 𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐧 🙏#AmiKKR #TATAIPL2023 pic.twitter.com/yCar4qK5TC
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) April 5, 2023
Rana-Nitish Rana, who has the experience of leading Delhi, was made to captain the side as the management expected Shreyas' return mid-tournament. However, the captaincy crisis ensued when he was ruled out of the entire league matches. KKR's coach Chandrakant Pandit has a huge task ahead to set things in motion for his team.
But what will make the contest electrifying would be the presence of stars as Shah Rukh Khan might be in the stands cheering for his team with live match returning to Eden Gardens after 1,438 days. The last match to be played in the venue was back on April 28, 2019, when his team beat Mumbai Indians by 34 runs. This was the pre-Covid world.
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Will make you stop and stare,
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) April 5, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
Cos this breed is rare. 🤌
Virat Kohli in the nets at the Eden Gardens. 👀#PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #IPL2023 @imVkohli pic.twitter.com/ZgLJw5Ybiq
">Will make you stop and stare,
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) April 5, 2023
Cos this breed is rare. 🤌
Virat Kohli in the nets at the Eden Gardens. 👀#PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #IPL2023 @imVkohli pic.twitter.com/ZgLJw5YbiqWill make you stop and stare,
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) April 5, 2023
Cos this breed is rare. 🤌
Virat Kohli in the nets at the Eden Gardens. 👀#PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #IPL2023 @imVkohli pic.twitter.com/ZgLJw5Ybiq
Kohli-If KKR has the star power of Khan, RCB boasts of an equally loved Virat Kohli, who performs the role of 'double engine' for his team as a batter that can snatch wins from the jaws of defeat and as a pure entertainer and a crowd puller. Who doesn't want to see him exulting, fist-pumping, and spreading energy around?
Meanwhile, all is not well with the Bengal side as they lost their first match that faced a floodlights snag which was followed up by rainfall. The only bright spot during the series of blips for Kolkata in that match was a half-century partnership between Andre Russell and Venkatesh Iyer. Iyer was promoted up the order to lighten up the batting against Punjab Kings.
The other lone performance was from their opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz, the Afghan wicket-keeper batter, who turned the heat with flourishing boundaries and a humongous 101-metre six. After their loss, KKR in their defense did blame power failure as one of the reasons but they will need to raise the bar in this high-stakes game.
Their bowling too hasn't paid dividends as Tim Southee and Sunil Narine conceded runs aplenty. While Southee will look to pull up his socks, Narine has lost his mysteriousness and should stick to tight line and lengths. KKR's litmus test will be against the opening duo of Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli from the RCB as both of them appeared flawless and authoritative in their 82-run stand against Mumbai Indian which they won by eight wickets.
RCB has a potent pace attack in Mohammed Siraj, Harshal Patel, and Akash Deep, who will look to make the best of the pace-friendly strip provided at the Eden Gardens. However, they will miss the services of Englishman Reece Topley, who sustained a shoulder injury.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Nitish Rana (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, N. Jagadeesan, Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma, David Wiese, Kulwant Khejroliya, Litton Das and Mandeep Singh.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Suyash Prabhudessai, Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat, Finn Allen, Glenn Maxwell, Wanindu Hasaranga, Shahbaz Ahmed, Harshal Patel, David Willey, Karn Sharma, Mahipal Lomror, Mohammed Siraj, Josh Hazlewood, Siddarth Kaul, Akash Deep, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma and Michael Bracewell.
Match begins at 7.30 pm.
