Milestone on offing for Virat Kohli as RCB face the Knight Challenge

Virat Kohli will be taking the field for the 200th time in IPL when Royal Challengers Bangalore lock horns with Kolkata Knight Riders in Ahmedabad. He will become the first player to play 200 IPL games for a single franchise. 

With the presence of quality players on both sides, big games like this one tend to weigh heavily on player battles. Virat Kohli vs Pat Cummins, AB de Villiers vs Sunil Narine and Andre Russell vs Mohammed Siraj - there are a lot of player battles to look forward to. Matchups like this make the game fascinating and engrossing for the fans. The last time the two teams faced each other, RCB emerged on top courtesy of half-centuries from AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell. Having scored 223 runs from 7 innings, the Aussie batsman has been RCB’s leading run-getter. Needless to say, the team will want him to come good with the bat once again. Among the others in the power-packed batting line-up, Knight Riders will be wary of AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli. Though the latter has not yet fired with the bat, a player of his calibre can't be written off so easily. The team management will hope the skipper roars back into form tomorrow. 

The bowling wing sports a settled look. As far as the death bowling is concerned, RCB bowlers have taken the most number of wickets (21) in overs 16-20 this season. Harshal Patel has chipped in with consistent wickets during the middle and death overs as well. He has been beautifully complemented by Mohammed Siraj and Kyle Jamieson. Daniel Sams was the most economical bowler in the previous game against Punjab Kings. With several variations up his sleeve, he brings a lot of variety to the bowling attack. 

Both teams have had two contrasting starts to the tournament. While RCB have five victories under the belt in 7 matches, KKR continue to languish in the bottom half of the table with just two wins. Knight Riders’ main area of concern lies in their top order. The top order has rarely fired. However, the middle-order, which includes the likes of Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik, and Andre Russell, are yet to hit their straps as well. Though Andre Russell showed some signs of his big-hitting proficiencies against the Delhi Capitals, he has not looked in the best of shape so far this season. With so many impactful players, the fixture promises to be a cracker. 

Approaching milestones

Washington Sundar needs one wicket to complete 100 wickets in T20s. 

Mohammed Siraj needs 5 wickets to claim 50 wickets in IPL. 

AB de Villiers is 5 sixes away from completing 250 sixes in IPL. He will become only the second player to achieve the milestone. 

Virat Kohli will become the first player to play 200 IPL games for a single franchise. 

Match Details

Date: Monday, 3 May 

Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad

Time: 7:30 PM [IST]

Squads 

RCB: Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Finn Allen, AB de Villiers, Pavan Deshpande, Washington Sundar, Daniel Sams, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Scott Kuggeleijn, Harshal Patel, Glenn Maxwell, Sachin Baby, Rajat Patidar, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Kyle Jamieson, Daniel Christian, Suyash Prabhudessai, K.S. Bharat.

KKR: Eoin Morgan(c), Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Karun Nair, Nitish Rana, Gurkeerat Mann Singh, Tim Seifert, Dinesh Karthik, Sheldon Jackson, Andre Russell, Shakib Al Hasan, Ben Cutting, Venkatesh Iyer, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Harbhajan Singh, Pawan Negi, Vaibhav Arora, Pat Cummins, Lockie Ferguson, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti.