KKR aim to correct the flaws as high-flying RCB park the bus in the middle

Apr 23, 2017 - Chances are no RCB fans will ever forget the date. It was the summer of 2017 when 49 became the scar they would never really recover from. The shame and trolling that followed was incessant to go with the forever-wait for a trophy. For any RCB fan, it was not an easy position to be in, for the barren cabinet laughs at them more than Kohli does after his bowlers took a wicket. 

You could never find a definitive answer to how else could a team with the most talented batsman of our times, the best batsman of our times, and one of the most destructive T20 batsmen of our times fail to pick up the pieces? There has to be a more logical explanation to hold on to rather than the idea of giving up, but then that is RCB. They play the most entertaining brands of cricket, and at times, illogical even, but never ever, you will come out of an RCB game without pulling your hair out. 

In 2020, when both sides met in the far cauldron of Abu Dhabi, it was payback time. Mohammed Siraj's magic with the ball reduced KKR to a paltry 84, losing the game by eight wickets, making it their third consecutive loss to the perennial bridesmaid of the championship. As both sides take the ride to Chepauk on Sunday afternoon, the sub-plots will be fresh in everyone’s minds. Can KKR break the cycle? Will RCB stretch it further? The MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai will answer them all in no uncertain terms.

Kohli -->Maxi -->ABD - RCB’s golden plan to success

After systematically failing at executing their plans year after year, RCB seem to have cracked the code this time around. Not only the bowling unit, from the small sample size so far, bear a menacing look, but also there is merit to their plans in having Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, and AB de Villiers for three different phases. 

Even though Kohli has been dismissed for 33 in both the matches so far, he enjoys playing against KKR, who are the only opposition he averages over 50 and he scores at a strike rate of 146, which is also the highest he has against any opposition. Him taking care of the Powerplay phase is a huge breather for the franchise, especially knowing there is a certain Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers to follow. 

As Mike Hesson revealed Maxwell was specifically brought on board to solve their middle-over woes and take on the spinners in the same period. The Big Show has done that in quite some fashion, striking at 145 without being dismissed. It was quite a contrast from last year when he majorly batted at No. 5 after the likes of KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, and Nicholas Pooran. This led to him being under pressure of attacking from Ball 1. Thus, 6 of his 11 innings in IPL 2020 saw him come in to bat in the last 5 overs of the innings, however, batting at No.4 has allowed him to take a bit of time to change the middle-over dynamics.

Further, there is an AB de Villers to be taking the game from the opposition's clutch. Especially against KKR, AB has been a phenomenon and his SR of 220 in the death overs is better than everyone but Chris Gayle with a minimum of 100 runs in that phase. Against all three KKR pacers - Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, and Andre Russell - AB de Villiers is yet to get dismissed in T20s and strikes at 175+ against them. Should there be any more discourse? No for me.

Cummins - the middle over enforcer

In the IPL 2020, after being purchased for a huge sum of 15.5 Crore, Pat Cummins bowled most of his overs - 67.30% to be precise - inside the powerplay. But the rise of Prasidh Krishna, since making his India debut, has been a huge help for the KKR side, thus Eoin Morgan has been better placed using Cummins mostly in the middle overs. This time 50% of his overs have come in the middle-order, with significantly better returns in all accounts.

With the change in role, there is a clear change in mindset as well. Cummins, prone to bowl mostly in the full and good length area, has gone attacking with 46% of his balls landing in the hard length area as compared to 29% last time. It has allowed him more opportunities to pick wickets, thus making life difficult for the opposition batsmen in the death overs. Can he sustain against a side that has Maxwell and ABD for the middle and death overs? Only time will tell.

Probable XIs

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Daniel Christian, Glenn Maxwell, Washington Sundar, AB de Villiers, Harshal Patel, Kyle Jamieson, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shahbaz Ahmed

Kolkata Knight Riders: Eoin Morgan, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Shubman Gill, Andre Russell, Shakib Al Hasan, Dinesh Karthik, Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy