The rivalry between RCB and KKR began back in 2008, when Brendon McCullum’s unbeaten 158 started the IPL with a fantastic start. Throughout the long term, the two teams have been engaged with a portion of the famous, and ugliest, crossroads in the competition’s history.
In 2013, It began with Gautam Gambhir having a verbal conflict with Moises Henriques after the two crashed as Gambhir was going for a speedy single. Later in the game, Gambhir and Virat Kohli faced each other and needed to be separated physically by Rajat Bhatia.
After three years, at the same stage, Yusuf Pathan and Andre Russell gave KKR a dig out from a sure win, and Gambhir showed his aggression by kicking a seat in the dugout, Gautam was fined 15% of his match charge.
The Kohli-Gambhir competition was re-touched last season when RCB confronted Lucknow Super Monsters, who had Gambhir as their coach. This year, Gambhir is back with KKR in a similar manner.
In the middle between, RCB got all out on just 49. Russell and Kuldeep showed their exceptional performance against RCB. Similarly, such performance can be expected on Friday too, so be prepared for another exciting rivalry game.
Both of these two teams have won their last match, with KKR defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad and RCB winning against Punjab Rulers. Although they both won their matches easily.
Against Punjab, RCB impacted Karn Sharma with Mahipal Lomror to give depth to their batting. The match ended up being a winning decision as Lomror scored an important 17 runs out of eight balls to assist RCB in winning the match.
RCB is also looking for their fifth bowler with Cameron Green and Glenn Maxwell. RCB should be looking forward to bringing Reece Topley for Alzarri Joseph, who has had figures of 1 for 81 in 7.4 overs combined in the first two games.
When Sunil Narine’s limitations against the short ball were uncovered, it was difficult for Kolkata to use him as an opener in the IPL.
However, KKR made him open in their first game of this season, against Sunrisers Hyderabad, where he scored 2 off four balls before being run out. It will be fascinating to perceive how he passes with the two-bouncer rule this season.
Pitch and conditions at Chinnaswamy stadium
As we are aware the Chinnaswamy pitch is known for its placid condition but in the last match between RCB and Punjab Kings: the kings were almost able to defend the score of 176. On Friday there can be a chance for Dew and as the pitch will be fresh it will create a fair chance for both teams to secure points.
Probably team players
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
If RCB are looking to bat first they will probably have Lomror in their playing XI and after that, Yash Dayal can be used as an impact player in the second innings. Similarly, if RCB is bowling first they will get Lomror as an impact player to Dayal during the chase.
Probable XII: 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Faf du Plessis (capt), 3 Rajat Patidar, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Cameron Green, 6 Anuj Rawat (wk), 7 Dinesh Karthik, 8 Mahipal Lomror, 9 Alzarri Joseph/Reece Topley, 10 Mayank Dagar, 11 Mohammed Siraj, 12 Yash Dayal
Kolkata Knight Riders
If KKR opts to bat first then Ramandeep Singh will start and Suyash Sharma can replace him in the second innings. Similarly, if KKR chooses to bowl first.
Probable XII: 1 Phil Salt (wk), 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Venkatesh Iyer, 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 5 Nitish Rana, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Ramandeep Singh, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Harshit Rana, 11 Varun Chakravarthy, 12 Suyash Sharma
