IPL 2023, KKR vs RCB: Depleted Knight Riders seek home comfort versus star-studded Royal Challengers

IPL 2023: Kolkata Knight Riders lost its openers, while Royal Challengers Bangalore was off to a winning start. KKR, marred by injuries and pullouts, would seek home advantage against a star-studded, confident RCB.

Hit by injuries and unavailability of key players, two-time former champion Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will seek home comfort and return to winning ways when facing a star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the iconic Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata on Thursday. Having started their campaign with a seven-run defeat via the Duckworth-Lewis (D/L) method against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Mohali, KKR suffered twin blows.

First premier Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan pulled out of the tournament because of family reasons and international commitments, and the next day, regular skipper Shreyas Iyer, who is also their batting mainstay, was ruled out of the entire IPL as he will undergo a surgery to treat his back injury.

KKR had made Nitish Rana their stand-in skipper, assuming that their regular skipper would be back in the second half of the season, but with Iyer ruled out ultimately, the Chandrakant Pandit-coached side may face a leadership crisis. 'Accidental' skipper Rana, who has experience leading Delhi in white-ball cricket, has a big task ahead of him as the team desperately seeks solace in its den.

The buzz is that KKR's owner Shah Rukh Khan will be in the house when it returns here after 1,438 days. They last played at Eden Gardens on April 28, 2019 -- a 34-run win over former five-time record champion Mumbai Indians (MI) before COVID-19 hit the world. The excitement will be at an all-time high for both teams, with crowd-puller Virat Kohli in the visitors' dugout.

KKR looked like a shadow of its past in their season-opener, interrupted by a floodlight glitch before the skies opened. Iyer's absence has made the batting feeble. A quick-fire fifty-run partnership between Andre Russell and Venkatesh Iyer, who was promoted to No. 4, was the highlight of their batting against Punjab.

KKR also can take positives from a cracking start by Afghan wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who smashed a flurry of boundaries and a 101-metre six before perishing for 22. KKR had blamed the power failure in the innings break for their drop in momentum, but the truth is it will have to raise the bar.

Tim Southee and Sunil Narine leaked runs on the bowling front, something KKR must address. Narine looked to have lost his mystery ball as the Punjab batters took him to the cleaners. KKR's attack will be tested against Faf du Plessis and Kohli, who looked in imperious touch in an unbeaten 82 in their eight-wicket win over MI.

RCB's pace trio of Mohammed Siraj, Harshal Patel and Akash Deep will also look to make it count on a seaming-friendly Eden. But it will likely miss English pacer Reece Topley, who suffered a shoulder dislocation. David Willey is expected to replace him.

Squads:
KKR: Nitish Rana (c & wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, N Jagadeesan, Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma, David Wiese, Kulwant Khejroliya, Litton Das and Mandeep Singh.
RCB: Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Suyash Prabhudessai, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Anuj Rawat, Finn Allen, Glenn Maxwell, Wanindu Hasaranga, Shahbaz Ahmed, Harshal Patel, David Willey, Karn Sharma, Mahipal Lomror, Mohammed Siraj, Josh Hazlewood, Siddarth Kaul, Akash Deep, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma and Michael Bracewell.

Match details
Date and day: April 6, 2023 (Thursday)
Venue: Eden Gardens Stadium, Kolkata
Time: 7.30 PM (IST)
Where to watch (TV): Star Sports 1 and other Star Sports regional language channels - Also available in HD
Where to watch (Online): JioCinema

(With inputs from PTI)