CHENNAI: One look at the head-to-head record between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore reflects the former’s dominance. They have won 14 of their 24 matches and more importantly, emerged victorious in five of the last six contests. But when the two teams meet on Monday in Sharjah, it would not be wrong to say Virat Kohli and his men are in a decent position to change that trend.
There is a reason behind it. Bangalore have had a decent start to the IPL edition with four wins from six matches, though similar to Kolkata. There is an air of confidence in the current set up after an impressive all-round win over Chennai Super Kings in their last game. Their highly criticized bowlers also came up with a disciplined effort. And in their batting department throughout the tournament, someone or the other has always stood up to be counted.
Even when Kohli failed initially, they found some heroes in the form of AB de Villiers, Aaron Finch and Devdutt Padikkal. The latter has been their best batsmen at the top and the other two have contributed here and there but the Australian’s form is a concern as his scores of 8, 13 and 2 in the last three matches suggest. He is expected to get another chance in the playing XI on Monday.
With the game being played in Sharjah, which has a batting strip and smaller size boundaries, it provides a wonderful opportunity for such batsmen to strike form and score big runs. If three of the four batsmen -- Kohli, de Villiers, Finch and Padikkal -- star with the willow big time, Bangalore will be happy.
The Kolkata bowlers will be aware of the threat Bangalore top order possesses, and would have some plans to dismiss them early. They have the ammunition to do so, with Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna and Kamlesh Nagarkoti among others. If the bowlers manage to send the big fishes early, they know that they will get into the middle-lower order of Bangalore, which has not batted much this season. Barring a few useful late knocks by Shivam Dube, rest have been primarily absent.
Kolkata have a headache of their own ahead of the clash. Sunil Narine, who played an important role in their last win with the ball, has been reported for a suspect action. If he is reported one more time, he cannot bowl further. Andre Russell’s knee injury in the last game has led to a fitness worry and his participation is in doubt.
To be fair, they have won matches without Russell’s batting firepower. They have a good batting line-up, where players like Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan, Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana have scored in different phases. More importantly, Dinesh Karthik roared back to form with a decisive half century against Kings XI Punjab, which is a huge relief.
With all these players capable of clearing the ropes at will, Bangalore bowlers will have to bring their A game at Sharjah. Kohli will look for another good bowling effort from Yuzvendra Chahal and Navdeep Saini, who have been their best bowlers in the tournament.