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Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL 2016, Match 30: AB de Villiers vs Umesh Yadav and other key battles

RCB are desperately seeking for a win in IPL 9 after two wins in this 2016 edition so far will hope for AB de Villiers to come good against KKR's Umesh Yadav .

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AB de Villiers will be a key wicket for KKR © AFP

Slacking Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) are set to host confident Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Match 30 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 at Bengaluru. RCB are desperately seeking for a win in IPL 9 after just two wins in this edition so far. As for KKR, they will be aiming to continue in the race of points table and stay within top 4. RCB may have the best batting unit in this edition but their bowling department has failed to compliment their batsmen. On the contrary, KKR are all guns blazing with their bowling as well as batting at the top of their game. Both skippers – Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir have lead the charge almost single-handedly, the only difference being Gambhir has won games for his team while Kohli’s knocks have gone in vain most of the times. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL 2016, Match 30 at Bengaluru

Having top-notch players like AB de Villiers, Shane Watson, Sarfaraz Khan and KL Rahul who have been pretty impressive in every game, Kohli has been a bit relaxed on the batting front. As for the bowling department, the spinners have done the trick for RCB. KKR have a lot of talent be it in top-order, middle-order and their bowling, that has never given an opportunity for KKR to complain upon. As the two teams gear-up to clash, here are the possible battles to watch out for:

AB de Villiers vs Umesh Yadav: AB de Villiers has surely stuck to the tag of 360 degree player and has been lauded for his partnership with partner and skipper Kohli. Umesh Yadav on the other hand has been pretty handy with his bowling for KKR at the start and death overs. Knowing the pacer is economical as well at the initial overs, the way de Villiers tackled him will be a sight to look out for.

Virat Kohli vs Sunil Narine: The skipper had a special moment in IPL achieving his maiden T20 century that ultimately went in vain. Knowing KKR’s spin attack depends on Narine, Kohli will have to be careful with the placement of his shots. Kohli has lead the team from the front in every game with his half-century while Narine has scalped one or two apiece in every game to keep the match ticking. This will be a crackling contest to vouch for.

Shane Watson vs Andre Russell: This pair can be taken in any way, as both are all-rounders and both teams depend on them in the middle-order. Russell can shake or make the innings for KKR batting in the middle, while for bowling he has picked two important wickets of Quinton de Kock and Shreyas Iyer while playing against Delhi Daredevils (DD) in the first over itself. As for Watson, he can be of great support if the top order shackles. As for bowling, he has also picked crucial wickets especially of David Warner against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

Gautam Gambhir vs Varun Aaron: Gambhir has been in fine form for KKR this season, giving them good starts with Robin Uthappa to compliment him well. Varon Aaron who played the last match for RCB, will look to continue his good run of spell with the ball.  Aaron in his last outing gave 27 runs in 3 overs which was decent going by IPL standards.

(Shruti Hariharan is a Content Writer with CricketCountry. You can follow her on Twitter at @Shruti_2890)

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