Deadline: April 5, 2019 at 8 PM IST
Venue: M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
Probable XI for Bangalore: Parthiv Patel, Marcus Stoinis, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Akshdeep Nath, Moeen Ali, Tim Southee/Colin de Grandhomme/Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pawan Negi/Washington Sundar, Mohammad Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal, Umesh Yadav/Navdeep Saini
Probable XI for Kolkata: Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (c), Shubman Gill, Andre Russell, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Lockie Ferguson.
Pitch and conditions
The pitch at Bengaluru acts like a kryptonite for the bowlers. In the only match played here this season, Mumbai’s collective batting performance helped them post 187 for 8. In reply, Bangalore fell tantalisingly short by 6 runs. ABD remained unbeaten on 70 off 41 including 4 fours and 6 sixes.
There was no dew seen. In fact, spinners had a good time catching the batters in trance. Chahal took 4 for 38 in the first innings, and although Krunal Pandya could not snatch a wicket, he conceded a mere 28 runs in the second innings.
Expect both teams to fire up their bowling line-up with spin, for there will be both turn and bounce.
Fantasy team
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My XI: Parthiv Patel (wk), AB de Villiers, Nitish Rana, Robin Uthappa, Akshdeep Nath, Andre Russell (c), Sunil Narine, Yuzvendra Chahal (vc), Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad Siraj, Lockie Ferguson
Preview
Kohli has been having a tough time as a captain. He lost the last 2 T20Is, 3 ODIs, and now 4 IPL games. All this when the World Cup is less than 2 months away. Although it won’t affect him much, it is always good to be in a winning momentum. And he knows that. There are few, very few who are as competitive as him, that he will find a way to rise above difficulties.
First things first: Bangalore need to change their strategy. It was surprising to not see Stoinis open the innings. He had amassed over 500 runs in 13 BBL games earlier this year, and yet Kohli preferred Stoinis lower down the order. In fact, barring his 46-run knock against Mumbai, Kohli has not produced enough runs. Batting at No. 3, where he has scored hundreds of thousands of runs at the international level, should help him retain his form and focus.
Hetmyer is sure to lose his place from the playing XI. In 4 matches he has managed a mere 15 runs, and will make way for either Grandhomme, Southee, or Coulter-Nile. Of the three, Grandhomme has a reputation of clearing the boundary line with ease, while Southee and Coulter-Nile can hang around and bat reasonably. If anything, they will inject at least some firepower in their otherwise ordinary bowling.
Kolkata staged a brilliant comeback against Delhi. At one stage they were down at 61 for 5 in 9.1 overs. Captain Karthik and Russell were at the crease. Russell knows only way to bat and he followed that: he smashed the Delhi bowlers to pulp and blasted 62 off 28. Karthik, surprisingly, was no less. He walloped 50 off 36, taking Kolkata to 185 for 8 in 20 overs.
Prithvi Shaw, however, stole Kolkata’s thunder with his 99 – but only until the 17th over. Needing 18 off 3 overs, Delhi made a mess of the chase. They needed 1 off 2 when Kuldeep took 2 wickets off the last 2 balls and pushed the match to the super over, where they couldn’t come up victorious. Despite the loss, Kolkata’s morale remained high, for they twice rose up from backlashes.
This contest will be between a team who confidence is outrageously dented and a team whose spirited performances help them overcome any downfalls.
Be that as it may, watch out for Russell: he has bludgeoned 159 runs with a strike rate of 248.3 and taken 5 wickets at an average of 16.2.
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