Kolkata Knight Riders are all set to face the Faf du Plessis-led Royal Challengers Bangalore in match no. 9 of the Indian Premier League 2023 season. Freshly appointed skipper Nitish Rana’s side returned with a seven-run loss (DLS method) against Punjab Kings in their campaign opener. On the other hand, RCB are coming off an ecstatic 8-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in their first home game of the IPL 2023.
Virat Kohli was off to a great start with an unbeaten knock of 82 off 49 during RCB’s chase, alongside skipper Faf du Plessis’ knock of 73 runs in 43 balls. However, RCB head into Thursday’s game with the English pacer Reece Topley less likely to play due to injury. This will be the first IPL match since the 2019 season, which will be played at the Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata, from 7:30 PM onwards on Thursday.
Heading into the match, here’s a look at the head-to-head stats, Dream11 predictions, and playing XIs.
RCB vs KKR Playing XI: Kolkata vs BangaloreProbable teams for IPL match no. 9
Kolkata Knight Riders Playing XI: N Jagadeesan (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Nitish Rana (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy
RCB Playing XI: Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Michael Bracewell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik (wk), David Willey, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, Karn Sharma, Mohammed Siraj
RCB vs KKR, IPL 2023 match: KKR vs RCB Head-to-head stats
KKR and RCB have played a total of 30 games against each other in the past. KKR lead the head-to-head stats against RCB by a whisker with 16 wins. RCB, on the other hand, have won on 14 occasions only.
The last time both teams clashed, RCB defeated the Kolkata-based side by three wickets. A dismal batting effort by KKR saw them getting bowled out on 128 runs, while Shrefane Rutherford and Shahbaz Ahmed’s knocks helped RCB win the match. Wanindu Hasaranga notably took a four-wicket haul in the first innings but is yet to play for RCB this season.
