Big picture: A tale of two top orders
KKR’s issues at the top are more pressing: they have used five different opening pairs in seven matches, they have lost the most wickets (17) in the powerplay, and their run rate (7.80) during this phase is the second lowest among all teams this IPL. Only midway into the tournament, KKR have used all their eight overseas players so far, and are searching for stability on that front too.
With Mohammed Siraj being penetrative – both in the powerplay and at the death – and Harshal Patel getting his slower balls to dip sharply at batters once again, RCB will be looking to end their stretch of home games with another victory. They will be on the road for their next five matches before returning to the Chinnaswamy for their final league fixture, against Gujarat Titans, on May 21.
Form guide
(Last five matches, most recent first)
Royal Challengers Bangalore: WWLWL
Kolkata Knight Riders: LLLLW
Team news: Hazlewood still a doubt for RCB
ESPNcricinfo understands that Josh Hazlewood is likely to sit out one more game before returning to action. If Hazlewood hasn’t recovered sufficiently from injury, David Willey is, in all likelihood, set to start again on Wednesday.
Toss and Impact Player strategy
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Du Plessis is also nursing a rib injury, and could once again be used as an Impact Player option by RCB. If they bat first, he could be subbed out for seamer Vijaykumar Vyshak or legspinner Karn Sharma after his batting shift.
Possible XII: 1 Virat Kohli (capt), 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Mahipal Lomror, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Suyash Prabhudessai, 6 Shahbaz Ahmed, 7 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Harshal Patel, 10 David Willey, 11 Mohammed Siraj, 12 Vijaykumar Vyshak/Karn Sharma
Kolkata Knight Riders
Jason Roy, who didn’t open the batting against Super Kings at Eden Gardens after having hurt himself in the field, is set to return to the top. Thakur bowled at full tilt at the nets on the eve of the game, but it remains to be seen if he’s available for selection. Meanwhile, KKR’s use of the Impact Player rule has had a fairly consistent pattern with wristspinner Suyash Sharma starting if they bowl first, or Venkatesh Iyer starting if they bat first.
Possible XII: 1 Jason Roy, 2 N Jagadeesan (wk), 3 Venkatesh Iyer, 4 Nitish Rana (capt), 5 Rinku Singh, 6 Andre Russell, 7 Sunil Narine, 8 David Wiese/Lockie Ferguson/Tim Southee, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Kulwant Khejroliya/Vaibhav Arora, 11 Varun Chakravarthy, 12 Suyash Sharma
Stats that matter
Quotes
“If you take any game in the IPL for granted, that’s a big risk… what’s happened in the past is irrelevant tomorrow from 7.30pm.”
RCB director of cricket Mike Hesson is not taking KKR lightly despite their winless run
“The guys are out there training now, working their hardest to be the best version of themselves. There’s no rhyme or reason behind it.”
Jason Roy says KKR’s batting struggles are not due to a lack of hard work
The big question
Who should open the batting for KKR?
935 votes
Stick with Jason Roy and N Jagadeesan
Jason Roy and Mandeep Singh
Jason Roy and Venkatesh Iyer
Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
