IPL 2018: Match 29, Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders - Match Prediction

It will be a battle between two teams surviving to stay in the competition of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). It will be a very important clash for both Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders when the two sides will meet at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday (April 29).

Both Kolkata and Bangalore are coming off defeats. However, Kolkata will be a more worried unit given the fact that they lost against the bottom-placed Delhi Daredevils (DD) by a huge margin of 55 runs.

The death bowling was simply found wanting as Delhi skipper Shreyas Iyer went hammers and tongs in the death overs. Iyer smashed 29 runs in the final over of Shivam Mavi which propelled Delhi to 219 for five, the highest total in the tournament so far.

The KKR bowlers were unable to find any answers to stop Iyer’s onslaught. His innings of 93 of just 40 deliveries almost batted Kolkata out of the game. Even Sunil Narine went for a tap, as Colin Munro took him apart in the powerplay.

Kuldeep Yadav couldn’t complete his quota of overs as he was already smashed for runs in his first two overs. Andre Russell bowled a couple of good overs and scalped a couple of wickets.

However, the rest of the bowlers went for runs and couldn’t quite stop Delhi from going past the 200-mark.

Meanwhile, in the batting department, the form of Chris Lynn has been indifferent. He looked in great touch against the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP). However, he has had a barren season so far going by his calibre.

Nitish Rana has played a few impressive innings which also earned him the Player of the Match awards. He also bagged some crucial wickets in the past which includes the likes of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.

It was in the first leg of the tournament that Rana got both the batsmen out. Kolkata won that match by four wickets courtesy a 19-ball fifty from Sunil Narine.

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Bangalore has played some good cricket in patches but the consistency hasn’t been really there.

The batting department looks pretty solid. Both Kohli and de Villiers has been in brilliant form.

However, their main concern has been their bowling which has cost them big time. The decision to go with Corey Anderson in the 16^th, 18^th and the 20^th over proved to be a disastrous decision in the end especially in front of someone like Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Anderson was carted for sixes after sixes by Dhoni and Ambati Rayudu. Bangalore had posted a mammoth total of 201 on the board at the end of their allotted 20 overs. They would have thought that the total was enough at the halfway stage.

Some good bowling helped them reduce Chennai to 74 for four at one stage. However, a brilliant partnership between Dhoni and Rayudu turned the match in Chennai’s way.

Anderson was handed the ball with 16 required of the final over. He was smashed for a four and a six by Dwayne Bravo, before Dhoni finished it off by depositing it over the long on boundary.

They are desperate for a victory. Bangalore is well aware of the fact that if they don’t start winning quickly the season might well turn out to be the previous one.

Moreover,  the premier spinner in the side, Yuzvendra Chahal is hopeful of the fact that Bangalore will make a comeback like 2015 and 2016 editions.

Team Combinations –

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

A few changes are definitely on the radar. Corey Anderson in all probabilities will miss out unless Kohli has a special affinity towards him.

Chris Woakes or his countrymen Tim Southee might take his place. The use of Washington Sundar was also debatable in the previous match.

Playing as a premier spinner Washington was taken away from the attack after being smashed for a few runs in his opening over.

Murugan Ashwin, the mystery spinner who has warmed benches so far might come in place of Pawan Negi. Manan Vohra also has a realistic chance of making a comeback

Predicted XI: Quinton de Kock, Manan Vohra, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Mandeep Singh, Washington Sundar, Colin de Grandhomme, Chris Woakes, Murugan Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav

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Kolkata Knight Riders

Shivam Mavi, the young fast bowler was carted for 58 runs in his four overs spell.

However, given his pace and accuracy, he might be given a longer rope. Kolkata is also in need of a victory after losing a couple on a trot. They don’t have a particularly great bench strength which might tempt them to stick with the same XI.

Predicted XI: Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik, Shubhman Gill, Andre Russell, Shivam Mavi, Piyush Chawla, Mitchell Johnson, Kuldeep Yadav

Match Prediction:

It looks a 50-50 from the outset. Both teams have had an indifferent season so far.

Kolkata defeated Bangalore in the first leg quite comprehensively, but I have a feeling that Bangalore will return triumphant.

Both have some strong players but my gut feeling is with Royal Challengers Bangalore. They need a win badly and I hope they will bag a win.