IPL 9: Knight Riders meet struggling Royal Challengers in Bangalore

Gambhir-with-Uthappa
Knight Riders will look up to their trusted opening pair Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa to fire against RCB in Bangalore.

Internet Desk: Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders will lock horns with a struggling Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chinnaswamy stadium on Monday. The Knight Riders who are placed third in the IPL table following their consecutive losses against Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils will have an opportunity to climb up the table if they can win tomorrow.

The Knight Riders are currently placed at third position in the table with eight points from seven games, winning four and losing three, while Royal Challengers are lying at a lowly seventh spot with four points from six games that included just two wins.
Although both KKR and RCB are coming into the match after facing defeats on Saturday, in Delhi and Hyderabad, respectively, the visitors would definitely start as favourites.
KKR would be keen to find their foot after suffering a 27-run loss to Delhi Daredevils when they were bowled out for 159 in 18.3 overs, chasing 187.
For the Knight Riders, Chinnaswamy stadium has been the happy hunting ground, for they had lifted the IPL title for the second time here after defeating Kings XI Punjab in the final.
The Knight Riders who had a hat-trick of wins suddenly find their form drop. The team selection has also left a few questions. Jason Holder, who has not played a match in last couple of months, was preferred over Morne Morkel. The batting order in the match against Daredevils left everyone puzzled.
Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir has been among runs, having hit three half-centuries in seven games. He has been well supported by the likes of Robin Uthappa, Suryakumar Yadav, Yusuf Pathan and Andre Russell.
Uthappa’s brilliant innings of 72 off 52 balls against the Daredevils last night was the lone bright spot for the Knight Riders.
Even their bowling has done reasonably well with the likes of Sunil Naraine, Umesh Yadav and Piyush Chawla in the ranks. However, it would be interesting to see how they counter the strong batting line-up of the Royal Challengers.
The RCB, on their part, would once again be relying heavily on their batsmen, hoping that skipper Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, KL Rahul and Shane Watson put up a massive total on the board. And Chris Gayle’s return after a paternity leave would further strengthen the home team’s batting.