Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will host Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Match 5 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on Saturday. This is KKR’s second home game, having beaten Mumbai Indians (MI) in the tournament opener, while RCB will play their first match of IPL 2015.
KKR are the defending champions, and played as such against MI to continue their winning streak. KKR have now won as many as 10 IPL matches on the trot, a record in the tournament. In Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, and Suryakumar Yadav, KKR are perhaps the only side in IPL 2015 without a foreign player in the top four. Read: Gautam Gambhir credits KKR bowling for win vs MI
RCB, on the other hand, rely very much on their foreign players; Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers have been tremendous for them in every season the duo have been with RCB. Gayle had a rare poor season in 2014, and that showed in the results for RCB. He will be keen to set the record right this time around. Given the form de Villiers has been in recently, one can expect great things from him as well. Read: Suryakumar Yadav’s elevation masterstroke by KKR
With the acquisition of Dinesh Karthik, RCB have found a potent wicketkeeper-batsman who can be used as a floater in the batting line-up, thereby enabling de Villiers to prowl the field and bat at No. 4 as he loves to. Of course, the nature of T20 is such that no plans can be too rigid, but one feels that with de Villiers having a more defined role he will be able to play with a bit more freedom. Kohli’s form with the bat was not outstanding in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, and he will feel he has something to prove to himself more so as the captain of the side. IPL 2015: CSK, KKR, RCB, KXIP, MI, RR, SRH, DD full team details in IPL 8
KKR have the better bowling attack by some margin; Mitchell Starc’s unavailability in the early stages could prove to be a major hindrance for RCB. In Umesh Yadav and Morne Morkel, KKR have two of the nippiest bowlers in the tournament. Sunil Narine was not at his best in his comeback match, but his action left no trace of doubt over its legitimacy and that will help calm some nerves. Indian Premier League 2015 schedule: IPL 8 match time table with venue details
Shakib Al Hasan and Piyush Chawla bowled well against MI, while the likes of Brad Hogg, Johan Botha, KC Cariappa, and Kuldeep Chawla are waiting eagerly in the wings. On the face of it, KKR hold the advantage. Playing at home with their current momentum and a superior bowling attack, KKR should be able to hold off the RCB threat. But in Gayle, Kohli, and de Villiers, RCB possess perhaps the most dangerous batting line-up of the tournament. Eden Gardens is likely to witness an engaging contest.
Squads:
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR): Gautam Gambhir (c), Sunil Narine, Manish Pandey, Robin Uthappa (wk), Umesh Yadav, Yusuf Pathan, Andre Russell, Ryan ten Doeschate, Shakib Al Hasan, Kuldeep Yadav, Morne Morkel, Azhar Mahmood, Johan Botha, KC Cariappa, Piyush Chawla, Pat Cummins, Aditya Garhwal, Brad Hogg, Sheldon Jackson, Sumit Narwal, Veer Pratap Singh, Vaibhav Rawal, Suryakumar Yadav.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB): Virat Kohli (c), Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Darren Sammy, Mitchell Starc, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Subramaniam Badrinath, Sean Abbott, Adam Milne, Nic Maddinson, Ashok Dinda, Manvinder Bisla, Varun Aaron, Vijay Zol, Sarfaraz Khan, Jalaj Saxena, Shishir Bhavane, Iqbal Abdullah, David Wiese, Rilee Rossouw, Abu Nechim, Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sandeep Warrier, Yogesh Takawale, Jalaj Saxena.
(Shiamak Unwalla, a reporter with CricketCountry, is a self-confessed Sci-Fi geek and cricket fanatic. You can follow him on Twitter @ShiamakUnwalla)
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