Struggling RCB up against KKR (Preview)

Toiling Royal Challengers Bangalore will be eagerly aiming for a win when they face Kolkata Knight Riders in a Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Monday.

RCB have only won two of their four matches to be at the seventh spot in the eight-team tournament's points table.

They have an disbalanced squad, heavily reliant on their batting. They will once again bank on skipper Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, K.L. Rahul and Shane Watson to put up a huge total and hope their weaker bowling line-up will be able to defend it.

West Indian big-hitter Chris Gayle has rejoined the squad after a paternity leave to add more muscle to the already formidable batting line-up.

RCB suffered a 15-run loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday and need to overhaul their performance soon to harbour any hopes of qualification for the last-four stage.

They also need to sort out their bowling woes quickly as the inexperience in this department has been exposed badly by their opponents.

KKR have fared far better so far, winning four of their seven matches to be third on the points table. They would move to the second spot with a win on Monday.

But KKR also are coming into the contest on the back of a 27-run defeat by Delhi Daredevils in an away match, also on Saturday.

Nothwithstanding the defeat, KKR approach the match with a better frame of mind as they have been one of the most balanced team of the tournament.

KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir is leading from the front and is one of the top run-getters in the tournament so far, well supported by opening partner Robin Uthappa.

The bowling line-up also has a settled look with West Indian off-spinner Sunil Narine spearheading the attack.

Teams:

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (C), Varun Aaron, Abu Nechi, S Arvind, Samuel Badree, Stuart Binny, Yuzuvendra Chahal, AB De Villiers, Praveen Dubey, Chris Gayle, Travis head, Iqbal Abdulla, Kedar Jadhav, Akshay Karnewar, Sarfraz Khan, Vikramjeet Malik, Mandeep Singh, Adam Milne, Harshal Patel, Lokesh Rahul, Parveez Rasool, Kane Richardson, Sachin Baby, Mitchell Starc, Vikas Tokas, Shane Watson, David Wiese and Tabraiz Shamsi.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (captain), Piyush Chawla, Brad Hogg, Jason Holder, Sheldon Jackson, Kuldeep Yadav, Chris Lynn, Manan Sharma,Morne Morkel, Colin Munro, Sunil Narine, Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Ankit Rajpoot, Andre Russell, Rajagopal Sathish, Shakib Al Hasan, Jaydev Unadkat, Robin Uthappa, Suryakumar Yadav, Umesh Yadav.

--IANS

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