Having lost all their four games, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will be banking on their home advantage tomorrow as they take on mighty Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in a crucial encounter at M A Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Kohli and his boys started the campaign in this edition of IPL with a miserable defeat against Chennai Super Kings in Chennai. They lost their matches against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals.
Virat Kohli said, “The team hasn’t gone off to a good start, and these things look really bad. But we have to keep believing that we can turn things around. We played well but we need to improve. We need to take some confidence from the game though.”
Kohli said the team may make more changes in the side.
“The tournament isn’t so long, so you need to think on your feet on what the best XIs are. We will sit down and talk to see how we can balance our team and allow our players to create some match-winning performances,” he said.
Kolkata Knight Riders, who have won two of the three games they played so far, lost a hard fought match the other night against Delhi Capitals. The match went to Super Over, where they crumbled to pressure.
Consistency is the key for the Dinesh Karthik-led KKR. KKR are two-time champions, having won the coveted trophy in 2012 and 2014. However, for the past three campaigns, they have crashed out at the playoff stage and failed to reach the summit clash.
Talking of experience, KKR will look to vice-captain Robin Uthappa for inspiration. A veteran of 168 IPL matches, Uthappa is a seasoned hand in the shortest format of the game, having amassed over 4,000 runs at a commendable strike rate. Also there is Andre Russell who can score big and fast. Their bowling has Kuldeep Yadav.
TOMORROW’S MATCH
Royal Challengers Banglore vs Kolkata Knight Riders at Bengaluru (8 pm)