Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will take on the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on April 26. KKR have lost 4 consecutive games and will look to stop the rot against RCB with a strong performance to get their season back on track. Having lost five and won only two of their seven games so far, KKR are eighth out of ten teams on the points table.

After the opening game defeat to Punjab Kings (PBKS). Kolkata Knight Riders defeated RCB comfortably at the Eden gardens in the reverse fixture and then won their second match in a row as they beat Gujarat Titans (GT) by three wickets in a thriller at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. But the batters could not repeat their heroics against SRH as they fell short by 23 runs while chasing a target of 228 in Kolkata. KKR then lost to the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede. KKR then lost to DC by four wickets in Delhi. They were comfortably second best to a DC side who had before the game lost all five of their games this season and were rooted to the bottom of the table. Last time out, KKR made it four losses in a row as they lost by 49 runs to CSK as they were unable to chase a mammoth 236 run target.

The top-order once again failed as in the previous games, KKR have already used five different opening combinations in the seven games so far. KKR got to 186 in the end against CSK thanks to contributions from Rinku, Iyer, Rana and Jason Roy. Roy did not open the innings against CSK as he had left the field during the first inning due to an injury. He has done well ever since joining the side as a replacement for Shakib Al Hassan.

The middle-order had been the saviour for KKR this season in almost every game. Venkatesh Iyer has scored 254 runs in seven innings this season. Rinku Singh and captain Nitish Rana have ably supported him with 233 and 181 runs to their names respectively.

The spinners have been the main wicket-takers this season for KKR. Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Suyash Sharma have scalped 23 wickets between them at an economy of 8. Russell has also chipped in with 3 wickets but has leaked a lot of runs. He has had an underwhelming season with the bat as well.

The seamers have been underwhelming so far this season and have been smacked all over the park. Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson and Shardul Thakur have combined for just 6 wickets in the seven games.

Shardul Thakur has recently been replaced in the playing XI by Kulwant Khejroliya. He has picked up two wickets so far but has conceded more than 14 runs an over. Khejroliya might continue in the line-up but Thakur could also return in place of David Wiese.

If KKR bat first Suyash Sharma could be brought on as the Impact player in the second innings. Whereas, Venkatesh Iyer could be brought on as the Impact Player if they field first.

KKR’s likely XI vs RCB:

Openers: Jason Roy, N Jagadeesan (wk).

Middle Order: Nitish Rana (c), Rinku Singh, Venkatesh Iyer.

All-Rounders: Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur.

Bowlers: Kulwant Khejroliya, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy.

Impact Player

Suyash Sharma and Venkatesh Iyer will be KKR’s Impact Player options for the upcoming match.