Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore Predictions: KKR are riddled with injury

Playing in their second game of the season Kolkata Knight Riders will welcome Royal Challengers Bangalore in the ninth game of the season at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on 6th April. The teams started very differently in the first game and will be looking to iron out a few things in the second. Who will win this game?

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are facing a tough time with injuries to key players. After losing Shreyas Iyer for the season, Shakib Al Hasan has also been ruled out. With Lockie Ferguson also injured and Litton Das yet to arrive, KKR only has five international players available. This is a big blow to the team, and new captain Nitish Rana faces the challenging task of leading the team forward.

KKR has opted to go with Mandeep Singh and Rahmanullah Gurbaz as openers instead of Venkatesh Iyer. Gurbaz had a decent season in the PSL, scoring at a strike rate of 150. However, with Anukul Roy at number three, the KKR top order lacks experience and doesn't look very threatening.

The middle order of Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, and Andre Russell will be the core of the team this season. Rana has not been in good form against RCB since his heroics in 2019, so he will be expected to lead from the front with a captain's knock. Iyer scored 34 off 28 in the first game but needs to step up as an impact player for KKR. Russell has been in excellent form against RCB, scoring at a strike rate of 200-plus in the last six games. He will be KKR's top batter in the innings.

KKR's bowlers struggled to restrict the runs in their first game against the Punjab Kings. Tim Southee took two wickets but gave away 54 runs. Umesh Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy had an impressive economy, but KKR will need Narine and Thakur to step up against the likes of Kohli and Faf if they want to restrict the runs or chase down another big score. Overall, KKR needs to find a way to overcome their injury woes and perform at their best to make an impact in this season of the IPL.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Mandeep Singh, Nitish Rana (c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Anukul Roy, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy

The team's first match certainly provided a glimpse of the season to come. RCB openers Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli gave the Chinnaswamy Stadium crowd plenty to cheer about as they chased down a target of 172 runs against MI. Du Plessis, who was the second-highest run-scorer in the recent SA20 tournament with 369 runs in 11 matches at a strike rate of 147.60, scored a brilliant 73 off 43 balls, including five fours and six sixes. He has also been in excellent form against KKR, having scored 229 runs with two half-centuries in the last four games between the two sides.

Meanwhile, King Kohli himself seems to be hitting top form at just the right time. He smashed an unbeaten 82 off 49 deliveries in the first match, with the last 32 runs coming off just 11 balls. With Kohli having scored a century the last time he visited Eden Gardens, it seems likely that his record of 973 runs in a single IPL season is under threat. These two stalwarts of the RCB batting lineup are sure to be crucial to the team's fortunes throughout the tournament.

RCB will also be boosted by the return of Glenn Maxwell, who is fit to play and looked dangerous in his brief cameo in the first match, hitting two huge sixes. In the middle order, the team will be relying on Michael Bracewell, Shahbaz Ahmed, and Dinesh Karthik to provide support and firepower.

However, RCB will be without the services of Reece Topley, who dislocated his shoulder during the first game. David Willey may be called in as a replacement. In the bowling department, Mohammad Siraj and Karn Sharma were the standout performers in the first match, with Sharma taking two wickets for 32 runs and Siraj being the most economical bowler with figures of 1 for 21. Siraj is our pick for the top bowler in the RCB lineup.

Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Glenn Maxwell, Michael Bracewell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Karn Sharma, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, Reece Topley, Mohammed Siraj

We are expecting a high-scoring game in Eden Gardens as both sides have pretty explosive batsmen in their ranks. The pitch will assist the batters and scoring on it will be easy. Spinners will have a big say on this pitch and will be the deciding factor. The dew will become an important factor later in the game. The team will be looking to bowl first. We expect a cracking game and we expect Bangalore to come out on top as per their present form.