KOLKATA : Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to bowl against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 match here at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.
RCB will be desperate to get themselves back to winning ways after going through a shaky phase of five losses in a row. KKR, on the contrary, have been in scintillating touch with four wins from six outings.
The last time these two sides faced each other, KKR got the better of RCB and clinched a comfortable victory at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. KKR have bettered their record in the last game as they hold a handsome 19-14 record in the 33 games played against RCB in head-to-head.
Speaking at toss, RCB captain Faf said, “We will chase. This is probably a chasing ground, always has been. I’m a fan of abetting first when it’s really hot, but the temperature did drop after an hour or so yesterday, unlike in Mumbai or Chennai where it stays very hot. The batting is so strong that a general score or 60-70 isn’t considered great. We have three changes – Green and Siraj come back, so does Mayank Dagar. We know if we do a few things back, the momentum can be back and we do have the firepower.”
KKR captain Shreyas Iyer said, “Last afternoon game here, we know how the wicket plays, we would have loved to bowl as well. It’s stiflingly hot and we’ll look to make them as tired as possible. We’ve tried to keep things simple, it’s not about how you start, it’s about how you end, just stick to the basics. We are playing the same team. It’s important to assess the conditions and execute our plans, then it’ll go in our favour.”
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI): Faf du Plessis(c), Virat Kohli, Will Jacks, Rajat Patidar, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik(w), Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Lockie Ferguson, Yash Dayal and Mohammed Siraj.
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Philip Salt(w), Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Shreyas Iyer(c), Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Varun Chakaravarthy, Harshit Rana. (ANI)