What

Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders will clash in Match 46 of VIVO IPL 2017.

RCB’s campaign is a near mirror image of last season’s when they forced their way to the Playoffs; if they finished second in the standings in 2016, there’s quite a chance they could finish second from bottom (or on the floor) this season. The team’s batting performance has been disappointing; RCB have been bowled out on four occasions this season, and are on a streak of five matches without a win. The batsmen are noticeably low on confidence – and they need a big knock from one of the batsmen to get the smiles back in the dressing room. Can one of Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle or AB de Villiers come up with the performance that can give the RCB fans a reason to cheer?

Kolkata Knight Riders were at the top of the standings a week ago, but after defeats in successive matches - to Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rising Pune Supergiant, they have ceded ground and have slipped out of the top two. KKR will assess if Robin Uthappa, who missed the previous match against SRH, has recovered and fit to play just prior to the match. Chris Lynn, who injured his shoulder in the match against Mumbai Indians on April 9, is reported to be recovering quickly and has had a couple of hits in the last couple of days, though there is no clarity if he has sufficiently recovered to take part in this match. There are question marks over the participation of Nathan Coulter-Nile too; the fast bowler was struck on the helmet in the previous match, and the team management will decide on his participation on the morning of the match.

When

07 May 2017, 1600 Hrs IST

Where

M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

The Protagonists

Virat Kohli among the batsmen, and Yuzvendra Chahal among the bowlers, are the ones to watch out for in the RCB line-up. Amidst all the disappointment for RCB, one other player has made the opportunity of being a permanent fixture in the side; Pawan Negi finally seems to have found his bearings and has contributed with the both bat and ball. Negi is one of only four players this season to have scored more than 100 runs and taken more than 10 wickets.

Gautam Gambir and Robin Uthappa will be at the centre of KKR’s batting plans, while Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav will play important roles with the ball given the 4pm start and the slow surface one is likely to encounter.

Match within the match

The last time these two teams came up against each other, Nathan Coulter-Nile dismissed Virat Kohli for a first-ball duck. If they face off again, will the RCB captain be able to settle scores in the return fixture?

The other contest that promises to be interesting is Sunil Narine against Samuel Badree. In the first meeting between these two teams, Narine took Badree for 4, 4, 4 & 6 in the first over.

Head to Head

Overall: Matches played – 19, RCB Won – 9, KKR Won – 10.

At Bengaluru: Matches played – 7, RCB Won – 4, KKR Won – 3.

The bowlers on both sides – RCB and KKR – had a ball when the two teams came up against each other in Match 27 earlier this season KKR were bowled out for 131, while in their run-chase RCB were bowled out for 49 – the lowest total in the IPL. KKR won the match by a huge margin of 82 runs. The match presented only the second instance in the IPL of both teams being bowled out in a match.

Trivia

RCB will shed their regular jerseys and instead don green jerseys in this match in support of the ‘Go Green’ initiative.

The current stretch of five consecutive defeats equals RCB’s streak of longest defeats in the IPL; the last time RCB experienced such a losing streak was in 2008.

RCB have now been bowled out in four matches this season – that’s the most they’ve been bowled out in a season.

If Chris Gayle takes the field, he will be appearing in his 100th IPL match.

What Next

Royal Challengers Bangalore will wind up their VIVO IPL 2017 season with an away clash against the Delhi Daredevils. The two teams will compete in the final league fixture of the season on May 14 (8pm). The Kolkata Knight Riders’ next is their return fixture against Kings XI Punjab; KKR will be seen in action in Mohali on May 9 (4pm).