The sixth game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 will present the clash between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Wednesday at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai.
The two teams met contrasting fates in their respective campaign openers. While RCB started the competition with a defeat, Kolkata Knight Riders earned a comprehensive win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
Talking about the Challengers, they headed to the field with a remodelled squad under the leadership of a new recruit, Faf du Plessis. The skipper led with his bat to do the talking, top-scoring in the game, amassing 88 runs off 57 deliveries against Punjab Kings. Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik played crucial cameos for the team as RCB recorded a whopping total of 205 runs.
However, their bowlers spoiled all the hard work, conceding more runs than their batters scored. As RCB expected Mohammed Siraj to get his best out, he fared miserably in the death overs, finishing his spell with below-average figures of 2/59. Moreover, Wanindu Hasaranga and Harshal Patel were far off from their best, which resulted in RCB losing the match by five wickets.
On the other hand, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) exceeded expectations in every department, with their bowlers and then batters pulling off an outstanding performance in their opening fixture against CSK. First, Umesh Yadav's brilliance with the new ball, followed by the masterclass of Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine in the middle overs, restricted Chennai to a paltry total of 131 runs.
KKR's batters did the remaining job and did not lose their grip over the match. Opener Ajinkya Rahane looked in fine touch and scored an eye-catching 44-run knock. Vital contributions in the middle-order handed KKR an easy win.
RCB fans will expect their team to bounce back in the next game, while KKR would hope they maintain a winning momentum. Therefore, the game is all set to be a cracking affair.
Match Details:
Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Match 6, IPL 2022
Date and Time- March 30, 2022, 7:30 PM IST
Venue- Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai
Broadcast- Star Sports Network and Disney+Hotstar
Pitch Report
The last match played at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai, saw over 400 runs being scored. The pitch is likely to add to the batters' advantage, with bowlers finding it hard to control the run-scoring. Dew will come into play in the second innings, making the task for spinners stiffer.
Squads
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, Faf du Plessis, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dinesh Karthik, Josh Hazlewood, Shahbaz Ahmed, Anuj Rawat, Akash Deep, Mahipal Lomror, Finn Allen, Sherfane Rutherford, Jason Behrendorff, Suyash Prabhudesai, Chama Milind, Aneeshwar Gautam, Karn Sharma, David Willey, Luvnith Sisodia, Siddharth Kaul
Kolkata Knight Riders
Aaron Finch, Abhijeet Tomar, Ajinkya Rahane, Baba Indrajith, Nitish Rana, Pratham Singh, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Ashok Sharma, Pat Cummins, Rasikh Dar, Shivam Mavi, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Aman Khan, Andre Russell, Anukul Roy, Chamika Karunaratne, Mohammed Nabi, Ramesh Kumar, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Sam Billings, Sheldon Jackson
Probable Playing XI
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Faf du Plessis (c), Anuj Rawat, Virat Kohli, Sherfane Rutherford, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Shahbaz Ahmed, Wanindu Hasaranga, David Willey, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj
Kolkata Knight Riders
Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer (c), Sam Billings, Sheldon Jackson (wk), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy
CE Fantasy XI
Faf du Plessis, Venkatesh Iyer, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Sherfane Rutherford, Sam Billings, Andre Russell, Wanindu Hasaranga, Sunil Narine, Harshal Patel, Varun Chakravarthy
Captain- Shreyas Iyer
Vice-captain- Wanindu Hasaranga