Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders, 6th Match

The Kolkata Knight Riders take on the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 6th game of 2022 IPL at the DY Patil Stadium.

RCB would be disappointed after losing the 1st game against Punjab, even though they scored 205 in this game. This is the 5th time RCB has scored 205 in a game and they have lost 4 times. Faf du Plessis started from where he left last season and scored 88 after a slow start. He would have been the 3rd player after Gayle and Manish Pandey to score a 100 on debut for RCB. He stitched a 118 run partnership with Virat Kohli and added 41 to the toatal from 29 deliveries. Dinesh Karthik did what he is best at in the end overs. Since 2018, Karthik has scored 527 runs at a SR of 188 in death overs. Faf's men dearly missed Glenn Maxwell as he is the lone off spinner in the squad.

KKR dispalyed a great bowling performance against the defending champions CSK at Wankhede. Umesh Yadav struck early in Powerplay and dismissed their best batter Ruturaj Gaikwad. Umesh has taken 22 wkts in the Powerplay since 2018 and is 3rd on the list despite playing very less games than the 1st 2 bowlers. CSK had no answers to the spin duo of Varun and Narine in the middle overs and jsut barely managed to reach a respectable score courtesy a vintage MS Dhoni finish in the last 3 overs.

As has been the case so far in the games played in Mumbai, the toss will once again play a crucial role. RCB will have to figure out a way to counter the 3 left handers in the KKR squad. And to counter the spin duo of Varun and Narine, RCB could promote David Willey or Sherfane Rutherford in the batting order and hold back Karthik for the end overs

Team News

RCB: Glenn Maxwell, Jason Behrendroff and Josh Hazlewood will be available after 6th April.

KKR: Tim Southee has joined the KKR squad. Pat Cummins and Aaron Finch will be available after 6th April.

Probable XI

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Faf du Plessis (c), Anuj Rawat, Virat Kohli, Sherfane Rutherford, Dinesh Karthik, David Willey, Wanindu Hasaranga, Shahbaz Ahmed, Harshal Patel, Akashdeep, Mohammad Siraj.

Kolkata Knight Riders

Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer, Andre Russell, Sam Billings, Sheldon Jackson, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarty.

Venue

Dr DY Patil Stadium

-Record at DY Patil Staduim
RCB: Played 3, Won 1, Lost 2
KKR: Played 2 , Won 2, Lost 0

-Average Total batting 1st: 149.9
-Highest total: 208/5 - PBKS vs RCB, 2022
-Total Match Played: 18
-Batting First Won: 7
-Batting Second Won: 11

Head to Head

Overall: KKR leads by 17-13
Batting 1st: KKR leads by 7-3
Batting 2nd: Both have 10-10 wins
Last 5 Matches: RCB leads by 3-2

Match Ups

Kohli vs Umesh: 141/1 (174 SR)
Kohli vs Narine: 161/3 (103 SR)
Kohli vs Russell; 78/1 (147 SR)
Karthik vs Umesh: 60/1(187 SR)
Faf vs Russell: 47/0 (188 SR)
Faf vs Varun: 41/0 (141 SR)
Faf vs Narine:36/1 (80 SR)

Iyer vs Siraj: 26/2 (96 SR)
Rana vs Patel: 23/2 (127 SR)
Iyer vs Patel: 7/2 (77 SR)
Narine vs Siraj: 2/2 (45 SR)

Form Update
(IPL 2021 and 2022)

Key Players and Statistics

Kolkata Knight Riders

Andre Russell: The 2 time MVP of the IPL has been relatively quiet with the bat in the past 2 seasons. Russell is still one of the most dangerous striker's of the ball in world cricket. With the IPL back in India , we can expect him to be near his "2019" self. Russell strikes at 229 at the death since 2018. A fit Russell adds immense value to the KKR side as he bowls his quota of 4 overs as well

Varun Chakravarty: He has been a revelation and is one of the major reasons for KKR's success in the last 2 editions. 35 wkts at an eco of 6.7 and dot ball % of 36 are highly impressive nos for a spinner. He gave away just 23 runs in the opening encounter against CSK and picked the important wkt of Robin Uthappa.

Sunil Narine: Narine averages 31 and strikes at 196 against RCB. In addition to that he has taken 20 wkts at an eco of 6.53. Though he hasn't taken lot of wkts in the last 2 editions, he has been mighty succesful in keeping the lid over the scoring rate as it was once again evident against CSK.

Shreyas Iyer: Since Nov 2019, Iyer has scored 705 runs for India at a SR of 150. He is in brilliant form in every format and made a huge mark in every opportunity he got in the recently concluded home series.

Venkatesh Iyer: After having an impressive debut season while opening in the UAE leg, he was immediately selected as a net bowler during T20 World Cup and picked for the NZ series. So far he has hardly put a foot wrong in t20is.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Faf du Plessis: He had a prolific last season with 633 runs and played a lion's share in CSK winning the final match. RCB would expect him to repeat his last season heroics at the top of the order and he lived upto the expectations after a slow start in the opening encounter against Punjab. 1194 runs at a SR of 147 are his nos against pace since 2018

Wanindu Hasaranga: This all rounder from Sl was RCB's most expensive buy in the auctions. He is one of the most difficult bowlers to play in t20 cricket currently and is also a very handy middle order batter. He has 57 wkts from 35 matches at an eco of 6.39 in t20is. Yuzi Chahal performed the role of the lead spinner to perfection for 8 years and RCB would be hoping the same from Hasaranga.

Virat Kohli: Its been 2 seasons Virat Kohli has been relatively quit with the bat. Though he has been posting 400+ run seasons, he hasn't been THE Virat Kohli we have seen all these years. His nos against spin have nosedived and his SR outside PP has been a major concern. With Captaincy relinquished we might just see the Old Virat Kohli back. 41* (29) against Punjab should just be a begiining of a stellar season.

Mohammad Siraj: Mohammad Siraj is the most improved bowler in the past 2 years with an economy of 8.2 at the death. His powerplay numbers are even more impressive with 11 wickets at 6.6 economy. Siraj struck on 2 consecutive balls and brought RCB back in the game but he was taken for plenty in the end overs by Odean Smith and Shah Rukh Khan.

Harshal Patel: He is RCB's 3rd highest wicket taker. Harshal 1st played for RCB in 2012 but he had his 1st breakout season in 2015 where he took 17 wkts. In a transfer deal, RCB got him from Delhi last season and entrusted him to bowl at the death. Harshal exceded everyone's expectations and took the joint most wkts in a single edition (32). He gets more dip than other bowlers which is the main reason his slower balls are difficult to put away.

Fantasy X1