The RCB vs KKR IPL 2020 game is scheduled to commence at 7:30 pm (IST) at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi with the toss to be held at 7:00 pm (IST)
Kolkata Knight Riders come into game on the back of edging Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in a thriller Super Over contest, Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Rajasthan Royals by 7 wickets on the back of a blistering half ton by AB De Villiers at Dubai.
Both RCB and KKR are very much in line for a play-off berth on the back of their good spree of results in the tournament so far. While RCB look to cement their spot in the top 3 in the points table and leapfrog second-placed Mumbai Indians with 14 points, KKR could draw level with RCB with a sixth win in the season.
RCB have the upper edge over KKR in terms of more depth in squad and consistently in performances
Kohli-led RCB look the more consistent team of the two sides with their batsmen and bowlers delivering more consistently than the Morgan-led Purple Knights in the matches played out by them in the season so far.
RCB's frontline batting unit comprising of Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, AB de Villiers and skipper Virat Kohli have all consistently been among the runs in their campaign so far.
South African seam all-rounder Chris Morris who bagged four wickets against Rajasthan Royals has given an extra edge to RCB's well rounded bowling attack by bowling well at the top of the innings.
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With Morris, Saini and Udana, RCB look a potent seam unit which can put the opposition on the backfoot with regular strikes at any stage of the innings.
The RCB spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar are complimenting the seam attack really well by choking the opposition during the middle overs.
KKR have been brilliant in some games but looked rather a pale shadow of themselves in one sided defeats. There is a semblance to their batting with opener Shubman Gill, Eoin Morgan, Rahul Tripathi producing match winning knocks. However, the form of skipper Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine has been a major cause of worry.
KKR seamers have been among the wickets but have been a tad too expensive in a couple of games. Kiwi tearaway speedster Lockie Ferguson who emerged as the hero with the ball in their Super Over win against SRH, would look to another game changing spell
Left-arm Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav's inclusion has surely bolstered the spin bowling armoury with Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine going steady.
Here are the full squads for KKR and RCB in IPL 2020
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (Captain), AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel (wk), Aaron Finch, Josh Philippe, Chris Morris, Moeen Ali, Mohammed Siraj, Shahbaz Ahmed, Devdutt Padikkal, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini, Dale Steyn, Pawan Negi, Isuru Udana, Shivam Dube, Umesh Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Washington Sundar, Pavan Deshpande, Adam Zampa
Kolkata Knight Riders: Eoin Morgan (Captain), Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Andre Russell, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Pat Cummins, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Tom Banton, Siddhesh Lad, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrior, Shivam Mavi, Rinku Singh, Chris Green, M Siddharth and Nikhil Naik