Welcome to Sportstar‘s LIVE coverage of the IPL 2022 match between RCB and KKR at the DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai. This is Santadeep Dey bringing you all the action.

LIVE COMMENTARY

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE INNINGS

RCB 52/3 in 8 overs: A half-tracker from Chakravarthy has been cut away through the gap. The ball skids along the outfield aided by the dew. Rutherford dispatches Chakravarthy for a humongous six on the onside.

RCB 40/3 in 7 overs: Narine replaces Umesh with two left-handers at the crease. Will be interesting to see how Narine counters the dew. Four runs come off the over.

RCB 36/3 in 6 overs: Russell to bowl his first. Willey starts off with a quick single. Five wides; this is poor bowling from the West Indies all-rounder. Extra bounce and it misses all of the batter and Jackson. Willey’s threaded the gap through point and it has been put away in style.

RCB 25/3 in 5 overs: Willey is not looking to take any undue risk against Umesh. Just a single in this over as the pressure continues to build on Bangalore.

RCB 24/3 in 4 overs: A widish slip in place for Southee. His last ball goes for a couple of runs.

RCB 22/3 in 3 overs: Umesh gets the big fish! Kohli goes fishing outside off stump and nicks one to Jackson. It is all happening here in Navi Mumbai… Four byes, way too much pace and bounce on offer.

RCB 17/2 in 2 overs: Kohli uses his feet to pick three runs by poking a short-of-length delivery towards point. Too much width on offer from Southee and du Plessis has whacked this over mid-off for four. du Plessis’s gone, courtesy of the softest of dismissals! A leading edge carries to Rahane at backward point.

RCB 10/1 in 1 over: du Plessis almost ends up chopping the very first ball onto the sticks. Umesh strikes! An outside edge carries to Jackson. Rawat goes for 0. Kohli announces himself by stroking Umesh’s loosener through the covers. And another… Back-to-back boundaries for the former skipper.

du Plessis to face Umesh first up. Rawat is at the non-striker’s end.

How can KKR win vs RCB?

KKR needs to get wickets early in the PowerPlay as RCB bats very deep. However, the dew wouldn’t be making the Knights’ life any easier. It will be an uphill task with batters like du Plessis, Kohli, Karthik, Rutherford in the lineup. KKR has defended 131 against RCB in 2017.

TARGET: RCB NEEDS 129 TO WIN

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS INNINGS

KKR 128 in 18.5 overs: Akash Deep misses his length and Umesh Yadav has pumped the full toss out of the ground. Hasaranga fumbles again in the thick of action… the spin on the ball turns past him in the deep. Four more. Cleaned him up with a yorker! Umesh departs.

KKR 118/9 in 18 overs: Valuable four runs for KKR as an attempted yorker gets a big, fat outside edge off Chakravarthy’s blade to race away to the rope. A rare misfield from Hasaranga at backward point adds further four runs to KKR’s tally.

KKR 110/9 in 17 overs: Umesh gets a lucky boundary as a thick inside edge rolls down to short fine.

KKR 104/9 in 16 overs: Harshal finally concedes a run off the first ball of his third over. He is mixing it up well to bother Chakravarthy at the other end. RCB, strangely, goes upstairs to review an LBW appeal. It had clearly struck the middle of Varun’s bat.

KKR 101/9 in 15 overs: Hasaranga, the current Purple Cap holder, adds to his tally as Southee holes out to du Plessis at long-on!

KKR 99/8 in 14 overs: Harshal starts off with a short ball. He strikes! Russell has edged and he’s gone. This is all but over. DK won’t miss these sitters for anything. Another wicket maiden!

KKR 99/7 in 13 overs: Here’s something for KKR to hold on to. Russell goes down on one knee and exploits the shorter boundary again. Six! Shahbaz has given him enough width again and has been punished. Down the ground… It is a maximum.

KKR 83/7 in 12 overs: Harshal, into the attack, gets Billings to miscue the pull straight into the hands of Kohli. A wicket maiden.

KKR 83/6 in 11 overs: Hasaranga on a hattrick. Billings defends and it is a dot. Russell waits for the slot ball… and off he goes. The ball has landed in the other hemisphere. 94m long over midwicket!

KKR 76/6 in 10 overs: Harshal puts in a sliding effort to deny Billings a boundary at third man. A couple of byes as DK leaps but misses the bouncer from Siraj. Russell, playing his 400th T20 match, gets off the mark with a boundary.

KKR 67/6 in 9 overs: Billings clobbers it square of the wicket and out of the park. Hasaranga gets rid of Narine – gets the ball to leave the Trinidadian power-hitter who ends up lobbing this into the palms of Akash Deep. The strategic timeout has been taken. Castled! Jackson, looking to go for the expansive drive, departs for a golden duck.

KKR 58/4 in 8 overs: The classic Narine shot! Four to mid-off off a length ball from Akash Deep. The next ball is a maximum. This was dug in short and Narine goes for a wild swing. The top-edge disappears over the head of the ‘keeper.

KKR 46/4 in 7 overs: Spin time as Hasaranga comes into the attack. Shreyas on strike. Takes a single and gives the strike to left-hander Narine. Narine vs Hasaranga will be an interesting matchup. But it’s Shreyas who has to take the walk back to the dressing room. KKR in disarray. Billings is in at No. 6 and there’s a loud appeal for lbw first ball. Not given. Just 2 runs and a wicket off Hasaranga’s first over.

KKR 44/3 in 6 overs: Nitish Rana comes to the crease. He’s off the mark with a maximum off Akash Deep. Akash oversteps and concedes a free hit. Rana cracks one past deep backward point for four. David Willey takes a blinder as Akash gets rid of Rana now. Narine to play floater in the middle order. 12 runs and a wicket from the over.

KKR 32/2 in 5 overs: Siraj is back into the attack. Iyer finds a boundary to fine leg. Gone! Rahane perishes now. RCB on the charge here. End of a good over. 7 runs and a wicket.

KKR 25/1 in 4 overs: Akash Deep gets the breakthrough off the very first ball. The Bengal pacer cramps Venkatesh for space, who ends up ballooning a top-edge back to the bowler. Shreyas walks in and gets a boundary off the very first ball. This was bowled full and outside off and Shreyas did well to cream it through cover-point. Rahane ends the over, picking a boundary down the third man region.

KKR 14/0 in 3 overs: It’ll take some time for KKR to adapt to the conditions; an advantage for RCB which had played its first game on this ground. The ball thuds into the pad, there is a soft appeal from Willey but the umpire isn’t interested. There is an attempt to run Venkatesh out as well off the same delivery but Willey couldn’t nail the direct hit at the non-striker’s end.

KKR 10/0 in 2 overs: Siraj has been welcomed into the attack by Venkatesh with a boundary through point. Almost snuck through, this one… A massive bottom-edge sticks to Venkatesh’s pad flap before rolling past the off stump.

KKR 4/0 in 1 over: A nod from Rahane sees the pair pick up a quick single to start proceedings. Venkatesh gets a couple to get going, working the ball away towards short fine.

Umpires Jayaraman Madanagopal and Navdeep Singh enter the field of play. du Plessis has some final words for his boys at the RCB huddle. Venkatesh and Rahane to open for KKR. Willey will be bowling the first over. The countdown begins…

PLAYING XI

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis (c), Anuj Rawat, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahbaz Ahmed, Wanindu Hasaranga, David Willey, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj

Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer (c), Sam Billings, Sheldon Jackson (wk), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy

WHAT THE CAPTAINS SAID

Faf du Plessis: No surprises… we are gonna bowl. Not an expert but the pitch still seems a bit tacky. We are going with the same XI.

Shreyas Iyer: I would have loved to bowl as well as the dew plays a big role. It’s going to be a test for us to come in and bat and ensure we get a good total. Tim Southee is coming in for Mavi. The management decided to go with experience.

 

TOSS

Royal Challengers Bangalore opts to bowl.

PITCH REPORT

“The wicket looks a lot drier than the first game. There is not as much live grass on the surface. Boundaries are not that big. Teams will look to win the toss and bowl,” reckons Morne Morkel.

RCB vs KKR DREAM11 FANTASY TEAM LEAGUE IPL T20

Wicketkeepers: Dinesh Karthik (c), Sheldon Jackson

Batters: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, Shreyas Iyer

All-rounders: Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Wanindu Hasaranga (vc)

Bowlers: Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Varun Chakaravarthy

Team Composition: RCB 5-6 KKR Credits Left: 0.5

Kolkata Knight Riders players celebrate a wicket.   –  Sportzpics for IPL

 

RCB vs KKR PREDICTED PLAYING 11

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis (c), Anuj Rawat, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahbaz Ahmed, Wanindu Hasaranga, David Willey, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Karn Sharma.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer (c), Sam Billings, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Sheldon Jackson (wk), Shivam Mavi, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy.

MATCH PREVIEW

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) head into Wednesday’s Indian Premier League (IPL) fixture on the back of contrasting results.

While KKR, led by Shreyas Iyer, defeated Chennai Super Kings in its opening game, RCB suffered a five-wicket defeat against Punjab Kings, despite scoring 205.

But at the DY Patil Stadium, RCB will rely on captain Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli to bounce back. Du Plessis slammed a 57-ball-88 against Punjab, while Kohli scored 41. Against KKR, they will need to give RCB a head start.

KKR ticked all the boxes against CSK. While Ajinkya Rahane had a successful outing with a solid 44, his opening partner Venkatesh Iyer failed to get going.

Against a star-studded RCB, KKR needs to ensure that it gets off to a steady start. Skipper Shreyas, Sam Billings, Andre Russell and Sheldon Jackson will need to shoulder responsibility in the middle-order.

Weak links

The batting department looks settled for both the sides, while there were weak links in RCB’s bowling unit against the Punjab side. Mohammed Siraj leaked 59 runs, and he needs to find his rhythm quickly. A lot will also depend on Harshal Patel and Wanindu Hasaranga.

For KKR, Umesh Yadav had an impressive outing against CSK, and it would be interesting to see how the formidable bowling line-up — which also comprises Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine — fare in different conditions.

– Shayan Acharya

SQUADS

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis (c), Anuj Rawat, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, Sherfane Rutherford, Shahbaz Ahmed, Wanindu Hasaranga, David Willey, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Siddarth Kaul, Karn Sharma, Chama V Milind, Mahipal Lomror, Finn Allen, Suyash Prabhudessai, Luvnith Sisodia, Aneeshwar Gautam

Kolkata Knight Riders: Pat Cummins, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Shivam Mavi, Sheldon Jackson, Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Rasikh Dar, B Indrajith, Abhijeet Tomar, Pratham Singh, Ashok Sharma, Sam Billings, Alex Hales, Ramesh Kumar, Mohammad Nabi, Umesh Yadav, Aman Khan.

RCB vs KKR/KKR vs RCB STATS

All-time head-to-head: Overall: 29, KKR: 16, RCB: 13

HS (KKR) vs RCB: 222/3

LS (KKR) vs RCB: 84/8

HS (RCB) vs KKR: 213/4

LS (RCB) vs KKR: 49/10

Last 5 games H2H: RCB: 3, KKR: 2

Last H2H: KKR won by four wickets, RCB 138/7 (20) – 139/6 (19.4) KKR

Rank	Best Batters	Team	Runs Scored
1.	Virat Kohli	RCB	774
2.	Chris Gayle	KKR, RCB	606
3.	Gautam Gambhir	KKR	475
3.	AB de Villiers	RCB	475
Rank	Best Bowlers	Team	Wickets Taken
1.	Sunil Narine	KKR	20
2.	Yuzvendra Chahal	RCB	19
3.	Vinay Kumar	RCB	17

WHERE TO WATCH IPL 2022 LIVE?

All IPL 2022 matches will be broadcast live on Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 3, and Star Sports 3 HD channels in India. Disney+ Hotstar is the official live streaming partner.