The Battle between two heavyweights is all set to take place as the Virat Kohli led Royal Challengers Bangalore side take on the Dinesh Karthik led Kolkata Knight Riders at the paradise of high scoring affairs the iconic Sharjah Cricket Stadium. As far as the form of both captains is considered they looked in deadly touch as both Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik have been among the runs for their sides in the previous few matches.
Both sides have so far won four matches and lost just two in the entire tournament so with Kolkata placed third and Bangalore placed fourth in the points table. A win for either one franchise would mean they’d go one up probably replacing Delhi Capitals for the second place in the points table.
As both sides consist of sheer power packed performers which is why to let’s take a look at the top five key players to watch out for in today’s match.
Let’s take a look at the 5 key players to watch out for when Kolkata Knight Riders lock horns with Royal Challengers Bangalore:
1. Virat Kohli
The Run Machine Virat Kohli is finally back in form as he’s been doing the bulk of the scoring for his side since the last three games Royal Challengers Bangalore have played. After having a rough start to the tournament, Virat Kohli got back in form just in the nick of time.
In the match against Chennai Super Kings at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Kohli scored an unbeaten 90 off just 52 deliveries from which over 50 runs were scored by running between the wickets. The hunger for scoring runs is back with Virat Kohli which is why he’s one of the five key players we all should watch out for during the match against Kolkata Knight Riders at Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
2. Dinesh Karthik
The Kolkata Knight Riders skipper had a patchy start as captain and player to the 2020 Indian Premier League. He started off by batting at three but couldn’t get the runs going. Then some of his captaincy decisions were also criticised, as he stuck with Sunil Narine as an opener despite consistently failing to score runs.
But ever since Dinesh Karthik started batting down the order at 6 and 7 playing the role of the finisher, Karthik has been among the runs for his side. In the match against Kings XI Punjab at Abu Dhabi, Karthik scored a crucial 58 off 29 deliveries helping Kolkata Knight Riders post a competitive total against the KL Rahul led Kings XI Punjab.
3. Rahul Tripathi
The Pune Boy has been a talk of the Indian Premier ever since he played his first match for Kolkata Knight Riders at Sharjah Cricket Stadium where he along with Eoin Morgan almost chased down the target of 229 against Delhi Capitals.
In the following match against Chennai Super Kings Rahul was then promoted as an opener where he went on to score a crucial knock of 80 runs, eventually helping Kolkata Knight Riders secure that win against Chennai. The form Rahul is in we all should expect much bigger and greater knocks from the youngster going forward in the tournament.
4. Chris Morris
The return of Chris Morris was the most awaited one as it technically sorted the overall team combination of the Royal Challengers Bangalore side. RCB had been struggling with their death bowling in this season but with the return of Morris, even that element looks sorted for RCB.
In the previous game, he picked up three wickets against Chennai Super Kings but failed to get an opportunity to bat. Which is why we should all expect Morris crackle a few sixes today at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium if the opportunity arises.
5. Washington Sundar
So far in this tournament, Washington Sundar has by far been the unsung hero for Royal Challengers Bangalore. He’s been the given the tough job of bowling in the powerplay where batsmen will look to go after the off-spinner but Sundar has done an ‘Aati Sundar’ job of containing the batsmen in the first six crucial overs.
Though he hasn’t picked plenty wickets this season, he has bowled economical spells conceding less than 25 runs in his quota of four overs in every game.
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With the Sharjah Cricket Stadium being a short boundary ground it will be a huge challenge for Washington Sundar to bowl in the powerplay which is why we should all keep our eyes on Sundar’s off-breaks.