IPL 2019: Match 35, KKR vs RCB - Predicted Playing XI, Preview, and Key Players

In a bid to keep their playoff hopes alive, the Royal Challengers Bangalore will visit the Eden Gardens in Kolkata for the 35th fixture of IPL 2018 against the Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday, April 19.

Head to Head Overall Stats: The Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore have gone head to head in 24 fixtures and the Knight Riders lead the battle with 15 wins.

Head to Head at Eden Gardens: This will be their ninth face-off at the iconic Eden Gardens; where the hosts hold the dominance with six wins out of the 9 games played.

Previous IPL 2019 face-off: In their earlier clash on April 5, Bangalore rode on Kohli's magnificent 84 to post a competitive 205/3 on the board, but were helpless against Russell's 13 ball slaughter to concede a five-wicket defeat.

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Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata Knight Riders (Source - iplt20/BCCI)

The Kolkata Knight Riders seem to have lost their momentum with three consecutive defeats against Chennai Super Kings (7 wickets & 5 wickets) and Delhi Capitals (7 wickets). The two losses have come at their home ground.

Batting

Key Batsmen: Andre Russell, Chris Lynn & Nitish Rana

Andre Russell (312 runs) is undoubtedly the helmsman of the KKR's ship, The Caribbean played a 13 ball 48 when the two teams last met and he is likely to pose a major threat to the Virat Kohli's side. While Chris Lynn (212 runs), Robin Uthappa (211 runs) and Nitish Rana (201 runs) are the other consistent performers in the side, who can change the game's direction in their favour.

Bowling

Key Bowlers: Andre Russell, Piyush Chawla & Kuldeep Yadav

Piyush Chawla and Andre Russell currently lead the KKR's wicket charts with six wickets each. While Sunil Narine has five wickets in six games, and these three are likely to be Kartik's key shuffles in the next game. Meanwhile, Kuldeep Yadav's failure is deeply hurting KKR's chances of progression, and the team management will hope he gets back to his best.

Expected Playing XI

Dinesh Karthik (C & W), Andre Russell, Shubman Gill, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Matt Kelly, Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, and Nitish Rana.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Royal Challengers Bangalore (Source - iplt20/BCCI)

The Royal Challengers Bangalore currently finds them on the verge of becoming the first team to leave the playoff race. In order to keep their hopes alive, they must secure a victory in the must-win encounter and one should expect them to come out all the guns blazing.

Batting

Key Batsmen: Parthiv Patel, Virat Kohli & AB De Villiers

AB de Villiers (307 runs), Parthiv Patel (215 runs) and Virat Kohli (278 runs) are three pillars of Bangalore's lineup and they will depend on these three to get them towards a commanding score While Moeen Ali's fifty against Mumbai Indians is also a welcome boost for the RCB and he will be encouraged to replicate his efforts

Bowling

Key Bowlers: Yuzvendra Chahal, Dale Steyn & Mohammad Siraj

Yuzvendra Chahal (13 wickets) and Mohammad Siraj (7 wickets) team-best strikers so far and are expected to make the opponents squirt. While Moeen Ali joined the party with impressive figures of 2-18 against Mumbai Indians. The inclusion of Dale Steyn is seen as a major boost for the struggling team and is likely to be skipper's go to bowling during crunch situations.

Expected Playing XI

Virat Kohli (C), AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel (W), Moeen Ali, Marcus Stoinis, Akshdeep Nath, Pawan Negi, Dale Steyn, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, and Yuzvendra Chahal.

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