Kolkata Knight Riders will lock horns with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The first match of the double-header day is scheduled to start at 3:30 PM IST.
With a string of five consecutive defeats and a mere two points from seven games, RCB finds themselves in a battle for survival. Occupying the bottom spot on the points table, a loss against KKR on Sunday would edge them perilously close to elimination.
To avert such a fate, RCB's batsmen must conquer the challenge posed by KKR's spinners, particularly Sunil Narine.
RCB top order must support Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli has long been the linchpin of RCB's batting lineup, yet in recent years, spin has emerged as his Achilles' heel in T20s. Since the onset of 2020, his strike rate against spin stands at 113.52, notably lower than his rate against pace at 145.79 during the same period.
However, Kohli appears to have made strides in addressing this vulnerability, boasting a more respectable strike rate of 130.09 against spin in IPL 2024. He even exhibited dominance over Narine, scoring 21 runs off 12 balls when they faced off earlier in the tournament. Yet, navigating Narine's challenges at Eden Gardens, particularly on a slower pitch, will pose a formidable task. Kohli's historical record against Narine also leaves room for improvement, accumulating 162 runs off 157 balls with four dismissals.
Kohli isn't alone in his struggles against Narine. Both Faf du Plessis and Dinesh Karthik have faced difficulties in scoring freely against him, with du Plessis boasting a strike rate of 77.14 and Karthik at 119.29. Narine has been in stellar form this season, securing seven wickets in six games at an impressive economy rate of 6.87.
Sunil Narine’s prowess
Narine's prowess extends beyond his bowling, as he has excelled with the bat as well. Reinstated as an opener and despite the two-bouncer rule, he has amassed 276 runs at a striking rate of 187.75. While he hasn't consistently handled the short ball with ease, he has managed to survive and capitalize on opposition weaknesses, as demonstrated in RCB's previous encounter with KKR.
KKR vs RCB Squads
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Phil Salt, Sunil Narine, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, KS Bharat, Chetan Sakariya, Mitchell Starc, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Faf du Plessis (c), Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Swapnil Singh, Saurav Chauhan
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