Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bat against Kolkata Knight Riders in their Indian Premier League match on Monday, 12 October.
KKR captain Dinesh Karthik said that all-rounder Sunil Narine is sitting out of this game after being reported for bowling with a suspected illegal action during his team's two-run win against Kings XI Punjab. Tom Banton makes his IPL debut for KKR.
Captain Kohli said RCB have also made one change with Mohammed Siraj coming in for Gurkeerat Mann, in order to have an extra bowler at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, where boundaries are shorter.
RCB vs KKR: Playing XI
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli (captain), AB de Villiers (w-k), Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Isuru Udana, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj
Kolkata Knight Riders: Rahul Tripathi, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik (captain/w-k), Tom Banton, Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy
RCB vs KKR: Preview
Bangalore come into the match riding high on confidence after their comfortable 37-run win over arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings while KKR, too, had pipped Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) merely by two runs in a thrilling contest on Saturday.
Despite starting the season with some below-par show, RCB seem to have finally gained the momentum. Kohli, too, in good touch with the bat and the run-machine single-handedly propelled his side to a respectable 169/4 wickets against CSK with his blistering unbeaten 90. Later, the bowlers rose to the occasion as well to defend the modest target with ease.
One of the main concerns for the KKR think-tank had been the silence of skipper Dinesh Karthik's bat but he finally dusted off his rustiness with a 29-ball 58 against KXIP.
However, the conditions will be completely different today in Sharjah and it will be interesting to see how these two spinners perform against some of the best modern day greats.
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