Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Kolkata Knight Riders in their tournament opener in Indian Premier League 2018. Both the teams have a new squad and both are entering a new era, hence their match today is of high importance as they look to get settled early in the tournament. RCB will not have good memories of playing against KKR as they had stumbled to their lowest ever IPL total in 2017 when they were dismissed for a paltry 49 at Eden Gardens. RCB skipper Virat Kohli will make his 150th outing in this tournament. It will hence be a big occasion for him. Same for Dinesh Karthik, he will be captaining KKR for the first time. Expectations will be high for the two captains. But going by InUth Fan poll, it seems RCB hold the edge, but again you cannot predict anything in such a short format.
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According to the polls, fans believe it is 64:36 in favour of RCB winning the match.
With the odds stacked against the home side, it will be an uphill task for the Knights who will look for early momentum in the tournament.
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RCB do have the firepower, but they have to strategise to deliver as they have been guilty of not doing that in the past.
Squads:
KKR: Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Dinesh Karthik (captain), Robin Uthappa, Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Nitish Rana, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Mitchell Johnson, Shubman Gill, Vinay Kumar, Rinku Singh, Cameron Delport, Javon Searless, Apoorv Wankhade, Ishank Jaggi, Tom Curran.
RCB: Virat Kohli (captain), AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Chris Woakes, Yuzvendra Chahal, Umesh Yadav, Brendon McCullum, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini, Quinton De Kock, Mohammed Siraj, Corey Anderson, Colin De Grandhomme, M. Ashwin, Parthiv Patel, Moeen Ali, Mandeep Singh, Manan Vohra, Pawan Negi, Tim Southee, Kulwant Khejroliya, Aniket Choudhary, Pavan Deshpande, Anirudha Ashok Joshi.
