For match number 9 of IPL 2023, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will be hosting the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the iconic Eden Gardens on Thursday, April 6th, 2023.
In their first game under new captain Nitish Rana, Kolkata Based Franchise went down by only 7 runs (DLS) to the Punjab Kings in Mohali. Varun Chakravarthy and Venkatesh Iyer, both of whom had a horrible season last year, were the major positives from the loss to PBKS.
Faf du Plessis’ team is coming off a convincing win over the Mumbai Indians at the M.Chinnaswamy stadium. Chasing 172, openers Faf du Plessis (73 off 43) and Virat Kohli (82 off 49) made light work of the target.
Players unavailable for KKR vs RCB match today:
Jason Roy, the replacement of Shakib Al Hasan, is not available for today’s match vs RCB, as he will join the team ahead of their next game in Ahmedabad vs GT.
For RCB, they will be without the services of Reece Topley, who dislocated his shoulder while fielding against MI. David Willey is likely to replace Topley in the side.
RCB will also be without Wanindu Hasaranga (unavailable till April 9) and Josh Hazlewood (injured).
KKR vs RCB Probable predicted playing XI:
Kolkata Knight Riders predicted playing XI:
Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee/Lockie Ferguson, Anukul Roy, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy
Royal Challengers Bangalore predicted playing XI:
Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis(c), Glenn Maxwell, Michael Bracewell, Shabaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik(w), Karn Sharma, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, David Willey, Mohammed Siraj
KKR VS RCB pitch report Kolkata:
It is expected to be a high-scoring match with two power-packed line-ups, a batting-friendly surface, and small boundary sizes at the Eden Gardens. There will be, though, some help for pacers with the new ball that the openers should be wary of.
KKR VS RCB Match Prediction: Who will win today’s match?
We are predicting for KKR to win the match against RCB at the Eden Gardens today.
Given RCB are depleted in their bowling attack in the absence of Hasaranga, Hazlewood, and now Topley, KKR might make the most of the batting-friendly conditions. Plus, RCB seem to have heavily dependant on the success of Du Plessis and Kohli; if KKR do find a way to dismiss the openers, then RCB’s fragile batting is there for the taking.
Squads:
KKR Squad: Mandeep Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Anukul Roy, Nitish Rana(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, N Jagadeesan, David Wiese, Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma, Kulwant Khejroliya, Harshit Rana
RCB Squad for today’s match: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis(c), Dinesh Karthik(w), Glenn Maxwell, Michael Bracewell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Karn Sharma, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, David Willey, Suyash Prabhudessai, Anuj Rawat, Mahipal Lomror, Sonu Yadav, Siddarth Kaul, Finn Allen, Manoj Bhandage, Rajan Kumar, Avinash Singh, Himanshu Sharma
