The State of Play
Royal Challengers Bengaluru will look to take the positives out of Monday’s record-breaking defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad when they take on the Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2024 tomorrow.
RCB were on the end of a batting onslaught from the Sunrisers, who made an IPL-record 287 for three from their 20 overs – Australia star Travis Head leading the charge with a brilliant 41-ball 102.
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It was a chastening evening for the Bengaluru bowlers with no-one spared.
However, they still showed plenty of spirit in defeat with a plucky run chase that eventually saw them fall 25 runs short on a total of 262 for seven. Virat Kohli continued his wonderful form with 42, captain Faf du Plessis hit 62 off just 28 balls while Dinesh Kartik hammered a brilliant 35-ball 83.
It was RCB’s fifth defeat on the trot which has left their play-off hopes looking forlorn already.
Du Plessis said: “When your confidence is low, there’s nowhere to hide in the game.
“The game is moving forward and so fast these days from the batters, so when you are not on top of your game [as a bowler], it’s hard. Obviously, with five bowlers, it’s tough on a wicket like that. We are going to keep trying different things.”
The South African felt a mental break would help them ahead of the clash with KKR.
He added: “One thing that’s really important is you need to go away and freshen your mind, it’s such a mental game. Sometimes when we have a couple of back-to-back defeats, it feels like your mind is going to explode.
“It’s important to stay away from it and make sure that we do get back to the next challenge – which is obviously a little bit of an uphill task for us at the moment – but when we do get back to the contest, we show full commitment 100 per cent.”
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Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell asked to be left out of the Sunrisers game after a woeful start to the 2024 IPL season which has seen him average just 5.33 from six innings. It’s not known if he will be back tomorrow to take on a Knight Riders side that have lost two of their last three after a blistering start.
Their last defeat was particularly hard to swallow as Jos Buttler hit the winning runs for Rajasthan Royals off the final ball of the match.
Buttler’s efforts overshadowed a magnificent performance from the Knight Riders’ West Indian all-rounder Sunil Narine who made 109 with the bat and then took two for 30 with the ball.
KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer said afterwards: “It’s a bitter pill to swallow, emotions were roller-coaster, didn’t think this is the situation we’d get into. It’s a funny game.
“We’ve just got to let it go, sink in, it’s all about relaxing, rejuvenating. We had a tough game, it’s important we learn from our mistakes and bounce back strong.”
Frames of perfection 🤌 pic.twitter.com/5E37mOsnXC
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) April 19, 2024
Expected line-ups
Kolkata Knight Riders: Salt (wk), Narine, Raghuvanshi, S Iyer (c), Russell, Rin Singh, V Iyer, Ram Singh, Starc, Chakravarthy, Rana
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Kohli, Du Plessis (c), Jacks, Patidar, Chauhan, Karthik (wk), Lomror, Rawat, Vyshak, Topley, Ferguson
How to watch
Sky have the rights to show the IPL to UK viewers in 2024 and will broadcast every game live. Sunday’s match will be shown on Sky Sports Cricket from 10.50am BST.
In India, the games can be streamed on the Jio Cinema app and website. They are also available across the Star Sports Network.
Balance ✅
Head position ✅
👀 on the ball ✅#PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #IPL2024 @imVkohli pic.twitter.com/7bbwUvEtUN— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) April 19, 2024
Prediction
RCB’s poor season is hard to fathom given the talent in their ranks – particularly a batting line-up that is stacked.
We reckon they’ll get their act together at Eden Gardens and throw a spanner in the works of KKR’s bid to make the post season.
