Lockie Ferguson to return? Where will Russell bat? Major change likely in opening combination: KKR's Likely XI vs RCB

After suffering a seven-run defeat (DLS Method) at the hands of Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their previous match, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will be aiming to get back to winning ways when they take on Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on April 6 at the iconic Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata. KKR will be returning to play at their famous home ground after 1438 days, having last played at the venue on April 28, 2019 against MI.

The Nitish Rana-led side will hope to open its account against a dangerous RCB side that would be full of confidence after a dominating five-time champions MI in the season opener.

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After finishing seventh on the points table in IPL 2022, the two-time champions made some good acquisitions ahead of the new season. They recruited Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson and Rahmanullah Gurbaz through the trading window while they were able to rope in quality players like Litton Das, David Wiese and Narayan Jagadeesan at the IPL auction.

The KKR hierarchy will hope that Chandrakant Pandit, a celebrated coach in Indian domestic cricket will help guide the team back to its former glory.

KKR’s strength lies in the number of quality all-rounders it has in the squad. Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, David Wiese and Venkatesh Iyer can all win the game on any given day through their performances with either bat or ball. But the all-rounders did not have the desired impact in the season opener. Russell contributed with the bat but did not bowl, Iyer was brought on as an Impact player but failed to make a mark with the bat. Narine, meanwhile, was expensive with the ball and only faced two balls before rain ended play.

As evident in the season opener, KKR’s batting is significantly weakened by the absence of regular skipper Shreyas Iyer, and in another blow to the team he has since been ruled out of the entire season as he will be undergoing surgery for his back injury and is expected to be out of action till June.

Though they have quality players like Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh and Mandeep Singh, KKR lacks a solid middle-order batsman that can perform consistently through the season. At least, on paper they lack someone that can score more than 400 runs in the season.

KKR will need their West Indian duo to be on top form to have any chance of reaching the playoffs. Russell has a strike rate of 177 in the cash-rich league while Narine has a strike rate of 162. The duo has helped KKR win multiple matches with the bat in the past and the franchise will expect the duo to do the same this season as well. Having played more than four hundred T20 matches across the globe, spin wizard Sunil Narine has an economy rate of less than six going into IPL 2023. Last season, even though he didn’t pick up a lot of wickets, Narine was fantastic with the ball, and the spinner will be hoping to put his off-day in the season opener behind him and will once again look to dominate batters at the Eden Gardens.

Alongside the absence of the skipper, KKR will now also have to contend with Shakib Al Hasan’s absence as he decided to pull out of the tournament owing to national duty and some personal reasons.

Jason Roy has been roped in as a replacement, but will only be available after the RCB game. Litton Das will also join the squad later this week after concluding national duty against Ireland and will only be available till the end of the month.

Death bowling is a problem again for KKR this season, Lockie Ferguson was unavailable in the season opener because of injury. Shardul Thakur and Tim Southee both leaked runs in the first game.

KKR predicted XI vs RCB

Openers: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Venkatesh Iyer.

Middle Order: Nitish Rana (c), Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy.

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

Bowlers: Tim Southee/Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy.

Impact Player: Venkatesh Iyer was brought on as an Impact player in the first game, he might start the game against RCB so Mandeep Singh or Narayan Jagadeesan could be used in that role.