KolKata Knight Rider (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will kickstart the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on 22nd March at Eden Gardens.
Match Preview:
For the very first since they inaugurated the 1st edition of the IPL, both KKR and RCB will feature against each other in the tournament opener.
Talking about KKR, the defending champions, this year the side will be lead by the new captain:Ajinkya Rahane. Last year Shreyas Iyer lead the side to the winning podium but now the player will represent Punjab Kings (PBKS).
Nevertheless, KolKata have retained the main core players like Sunil Narine, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, and Venkatesh Iyer.
And if anything, both Narine and Russell will have to play a key role in the team’s success. Particularly Russell as he had one helluva season last year. The all-rounder ended up scoring 222 runs at a healthy strike rate of 185. With the bowl, he took 19 wickets. So, the team will be hoping that Andree should start from where he left off last season.
Talking about the RCB, they have a new-look squad for this season as they had only retained Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, and Yash Dayal. Moreover, they have a new captain in Patidar who was of course a very key player for them last season. But the main question is, would he be able to maintain the pressure given RCB is yet to win a title and he was introduced to the franchise setup in 2021.
However, Patidar was one of the reasons for RCB’s late resurgence last season which saw the team make a late entry into the playoffs. He scored 395 runs at a strike rate of 177. If anything, the new-captain would hope to continue his rich form in this season as well and moreover, a maiden title, perhaps?
Phil Salt will be another key player as he was the second highest run scorer for KKR last year having scored 435 runs at a strike rate of 182. His recent performances have not been eye-catching but you just never know when it’s time for a comeback?
Probable Playing XI:
Kolkata Knight Riders (probable): 1 Sunil Narine, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Ajinkya Rahane (capt) 4 Angkrish Raghuvanshi, 5 Venkatesh Iyer, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Ramandeep Singh, 9 Harshit Rana, 10 Varun Chakaravarthy, 11 Spencer Johnson/Anrich Nortje, 12 Vaibhav Arora
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (probable): 1 Phil Salt, 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Rajat Patidar (capt), 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 7 Tim David, 8 Krunal Pandya, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Yash Dayal, 12 Swapnil Singh/Mohit Rathee/Rasikh Salam
Pitch and weather report:
Eden Gardens contributed to the new run-scoring record set by the IPL 2024. There were six totals of 200 or more, including a successful chase of 262, because the batting conditions were so favorable.
Bad weather predicted for Saturday’s game, however, would ruin all that enjoyment.
Head-to-head record:
The two teams have played 34 times against each other with KKR winning 20 games and RCB standing victorious in 14.
Prediction:
Given they are defending champions and have retained most of their core players, KKR are favourites to win the 1st game of the IPL.
Where to Watch:
Pakistan: Tapmad
India: JioStar application
Others: CricHD
