After taking revenge against Chennai Super Kings for the defeat in the summit clash of the 2021 edition in this year’s season opener on Saturday, Kolkata Knight Riders will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore in the sixth match of the ongoing Indian Premier League at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday.
KKR started the 2022 edition with a bang and ended a four-match losing streak against Super Kings on Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy debut for the two-time winners. And they would like to make it two in a row against RCB, which also has a new leader in former South African international Faf du Plessis.
The 37-year-old, on his captaincy debut, made a 57-ball 88 to help his side post a big total of 205 for 2 against Punjab Kings. But that didn’t prove to be enough as PBKS won the game with one over to spare. In that match, which was played in the same venue where Wednesday's game will take place, the RCB batters did the job by posting a big total, but a forgetful day by the bowlers, especially Mohammed Siraj, ruined the team's hopes of making a perfect start.
Siraj was one of the three players retained by the franchise ahead of this year’s mega auction but looked off colour against Punjab and went for 59 runs in his spell of four overs.
He would like to move on from that dismal show and live up to the billing. He will be supported by last year’s leading wicket-taker, Harshal Patel, Sri Lankan all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga and Englishman David Willey, who is likely to get another game in the absence of Josh Hazlewood.
On the other hand, the Knight Riders had an almost perfect evening against Chennai at Wankhede Stadium on March 26, and they will look to build on that success and move to the top of the points table.
For KKR, Indian fast-bowler Umesh Yadav was on song in the first match as he dismantled Chennai’s top-order to give his side an early break-through and Iyer will expect him to do the same job again. “Umesh has worked hard in the nets and did well in the practice games too. Really chuffed to see him perform,” Iyer told The Pioneer of Umesh after CSK game. Apart from the 34-year-old IPL veteran, Shreyas has Shivam Mavi, Andre Russell, Varun Chakrvarthy, and Sunil Narine to ask some tough questions.
On the batting front, they have Ajinkya Rahane, who impressed on his KKR debut and made 44 runs at the top, while the others include the likes of Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Sam Billings, Sheldon Jackson, and skipper Shreyas himself.