IPL 2023 Match 36 Condensed KKR Preview

Where do we go from here? I’m sure the team management of my Kolkata Knight Riders must be thinking the same thing. At 2-5 and now left with a negative net run rate (NRR) of -0.186, what can or should we realistically do? I see two options: 1. we try to pool together as many of our resources as we can to mount a comeback or 2. we give up and try to “focus on the future”. As in play our youngsters and/or reserve/bench players to try to see who we can/want to retain for the next season. If we lose one more game, I don’t think any amount of wins will lead us to a top-4 finish. Whatever happens, we need to tread carefully…

Photo Cred: skyblogs

I’m going to preview Match #36 in the IPL 2023 season, where my Knight Riders will take on the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) again. This is our first “repeat game” of the season. Last time, RCB came to Eden Gardens and faced a horrible defeat. Things have changed since then, though. RCB (-0.008) is in fifth place tied with eight points with three other teams. KKR holds a slight advantage in the head-to-head matchup (17-14). We also did win our earlier matchup this year. As always with the pregame previews, here’s what you can expect: ideal playing XIs, any pre-match news/updates, and a little information on the opponents (like what to watch out for). Links to my entire preview and review series will be provided below.

Pre-match News & Updates

1. Jason Roy (calf) looks to be set to open for KKR again. He faced an injury concern on the field and did not get to open the KKR innings against the Chennai Super Kings. However, it seems like things are ok now.
2. It seems that Bangalore’s Australian seamer, Josh Hazlewood (Achilles tendinitis), is still not ready yet.

Photo Cred: The Indian Express (L- Hazlewood, R-Roy)

My Predicted KKR Playing XIs

Bat-First

1. Jason Roy (Overseas- represents England, born in South Africa)
2. Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Overseas- Afghanistan) (Wicket-keeper)
3. Litton Das (Overseas- Bangladesh)
4. Nitish Rana (Captain)
5. Venkatesh Iyer
6. Rinku Singh
7. Andre Russell (Overseas- West Indies/Jamaica)
8. Shardul Thakur
9. Umesh Yadav
10. Suyash Sharma
11. Varun Chakravarthy
12. Impact Player– Anukul Roy

Photo Cred: myKhel (L- Iyer, R- Rana)

Bowl-First

1. Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Overseas- Afghanistan) (Wicket-keeper)
2. Jason Roy (Overseas- represents England, born in South Africa)
3. Nitish Rana (Captain)
4. Venkatesh Iyer
5. Rinku Singh
6. Sunil Narine (Overseas- West Indies/Trinidad & Tobago)
7. Andre Russell (Overseas- West Indies/Jamaica)
8. Umesh Yadav
9. Suyash Sharma
10. Vaibhav Arora
11. Varun Chakravarthy
12. Impact Player– Aarya Desai

Photo Creds: thefederal.com (L- Yadav, R- Russell). Note: The picture is from 2022.

Playing XI Reasoning

1. Gurbaz just had a bad two-game stretch. I am not sure if we needed to drop him so quickly, but I feel like he needs to come back up to the top. He will pair quite nicely with Roy, I feel like.
2. Gurbaz is the best wicket-keeper on our team. We tried out Jagadeesan last game. Was he bad at keeping like Das? No. However, his batting leaves a lot to be desired, so it’s back to Gurbaz again in this opening partnership merry-go-round…
3. Roy is the only stability we have now up the order (but hopefully I don’t jinx us by saying this…)
4. Rana stays on. I want Iyer to be used as a bowler instead of Russell.
5. Rinku definitely keeps staying. Russell still stays at no. 7 in both XIs.
6. Yadav is still our best seamer (which is not saying much), but young Suyash has quite possibly taken over as our best spinner. He will continue to slot into both XIs for me. However, Chakravarthy stays on because he is the highest wicket-taker on the team currently.
7. To fill out the last remaining spots, I have these decisions to make: do I bring on an extra batter in place of Narine and do I consider a recall for one of the two Kiwis (Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson)?
8. Bat-first XI decision: I decided, in the end, that a bat-first XI should contain a lot of batting. That’s why I have replaced Narine with Das, who gets a second chance. Das could open or play at no. 3, that is undecided, but I do feel like we need his extra batting for sure. Thakur slots into this XI because he’s batted well this year.
   • I was very close to slotting Southee back in because he at least has two wickets despite a 13.17 econ. However, I’ll take the extra batting of Das.
   • My Impact Player selection is Anukul because we will need an extra spinner with Narine out of the team.
9. Bowl-first XI decision: Narine will stay in this XI because I will take his bowling skills, however hot and cold he blows. Arora makes his KKR debut for me because of the lack of good seam-bowling options. I want to see what he has to provide.
   • My Impact Player selection is Desai because it seems that I was wrong this entire time. Our middle order was not the problem, it was our openers/top order. Desai is an opener/top-order batter, so he can come in the second innings to provide some more batting.

Photo Cred: CricGram                                                             Photo Cred: Twitter (Desai)

KKR Player Unavailability

1. Shreyas Iyer: Back surgery, ruled out of the tournament.
2. Shakib Al Hasan (Overseas- Bangladesh): Opted out of the tournament.

The Opponent- Royal Challengers Bangalore

What/Who to Watch Out For

1. Mohammed Siraj. He has the second-most wickets (13) this season and at a great econ (7.18) too!
2. David Willey. He has three wickets in three matches but has been super economical (6.17). That’s why I’m surprised RCB hasn’t played him as much.
3. A tough opening pair. Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli have been quite good together. These are all the big partnerships they’ve had: 148 vs. Mumbai Indians (MI), 44 against us, 96 against the Lucknow Super Giants, 42 vs. the Delhi Capitals (DC), and 137 against the Punjab Kings (PBKS).
   1. du Plessis: 405 runs, 67.50 ave, 165.31 SR, highest score (HS)- 84, five 50s, 33 4s, 25 6s.
      • He currently holds the Orange Cap this season with the most runs scored, a full 100 runs ahead of the nearest contender!
   2. Kohli: 279 runs, 46.50 ave, 141.62 SR, HS- 82 not out (n.o.), four 50s, 25 4s, 11 6s.
      • He will have to watch out a little, though. Kohli has lost his wicket early (less than 10 runs, including a first-ball duck) twice in seven games.
4. Glenn Maxwell’s batting. He might have had two games where he did not fire (seven-ball five (against KKR at that), first-ball duck). How’d he do in the other five? 3-ball 12, 29-ball 59, 14-ball 24, 36-ball 76, and 44-ball 77. So I’d say he’s doing quite fine!
   • Stats: 253 runs, 42.17 ave, 188.81 SR, HS- 77, three 50s, 13 4s, 23 6s.

Photo Cred: Hindustan Times (L- du Plessis, R- Kohli)

Honorable Mentions

1. Harshal Patel’s bowling. Has been kind of expensive (9.78) but he still has 10 wickets picked up.
2. Karn Sharma. Despite being expensive himself (10.60), Karn does have five wickets to his name. He hasn’t played since Hasaranga got in the squad.
3. Wayne Parnell. Parnell continues the trend of expensive wicket-takers (9.93 econ, six wickets). He was brought into the side in place of Willey because of his added expertise with the bat.
4. Wanindu Hasaranga & Vijaykumar Vyshak. I put them together because, so far, they’ve played every game together. They made their season debuts against DC and have played every game since (in one way or another). Both have been quite expensive (9.92 and 10.38 respectively) but both have taken four wickets.
5. Dinesh Karthik. He’s been the only other batter to have made some sort of impact for RCB, but it still might not be enough.
   • Stats: 61 runs, 135.56 SR, 7 4s.

Photo Creds: (L) Crictoday (Patel), (R) Royal Challengers Bangalore (Karthik)

Any Previous Player/Team History

In “repeat matches”, I won’t have this section in my article. However, given that I didn’t have a section like this in the first KKR-RCB matchup, I’m going to make one now.

1. There are quite a few Knight Riders who have played for RCB.
   • Kulwant Khejroliya– He played for RCB from 2018-19, then his next IPL stop was us in Kolkata.
   • Mandeep Singh– Mandeep is in his second stint with KKR, having also been with us in 2010. He’s played for the then-Kings XI Punjab (KXIP)/PBKS in two stints (2011-14, 2019-21). It was here where he managed to sneak in four years with RCB (2015-18). Before joining us this year, he played for DC last year.
   • Tim Southee– He was with RCB from 2018-19, partnering with Khejroliya as well. Like Khejroliya, his next IPL team was Kolkata. However, unlike him, Southee has been with us since 2021.
   • David Wiese– Interestingly enough, Wiese has only represented RCB and KKR in the IPL. When he played for Bangalore (2015-16), he was still representing South Africa internationally. His current stint with KKR is his first with his new national team, Namibia, thus making him the first-ever Namibian player in the IPL!
   • Umesh Yadav– His first stop in the IPL was with the then-Delhi Daredevils (DD) from 2010-13. He then had his first KKR stint from 2014-17, following that up with three years with RCB (2018-20). After his second stint with the now-rebranded DC in 2021, he’s been with KKR since 2022.
2. Only two current Royal Challengers are former KKR players: Dinesh Karthik and Siddarth Kaul.
   • Karthik– Karthik has been with multiple teams since the start of the IPL in 2008. Played for DD from 2008-10, KXIP in 2011, MI from 2012-13, DD again in 2014, and RCB in stint #1 in 2015. After that, he did find stability with his teams: Gujarat Lions (2016-17), KKR (2018-21), and then stint #2 with RCB (2022-present).
     • We have been struggling to find a proper keeper ever since he left us. He was a good leader here but he may not have done enough to be worth his 7.40 Crore price tag.
     • His KKR stats: 61 matches, 1143 runs, 113 4s, 41 6s, averages ranging from 14.08-49.80, strike rates ranging from 126.11-147.77, HS ranging from 40-97 n.o.
       • His debut season with us was his best, but then he started to falter in his next two seasons, even losing his captaincy. He tried to make up for it with his 2021 season, though.
   • Kaul– Kaul may have been with KKR in 2008 but he didn’t get a game with us. His IPL debut came in 2013 with DD, who he stayed with until 2014. It seems as if he wasn’t in the league from 2009-2012. Afterwards, he was with the Sunrisers Hyderabad from 2015-21, although he didn’t get a game with them until 2017. From 2022 onward, he’s been with RCB. He’s only played one game for Bangalore since being here.
3. There are two players who represent Bengal domestically, although neither of them are Bengali: Akash Deep (born in Bihar) and Shahbaz Ahmed (born in Haryana).

Photo Cred: Gulf News (Yadav)                      Photo Cred: InsideSport.IN (Karthik)

The Links to My KKR Preview & Review Series

1. My Thoughts on the Kolkata Knight Riders for the IPL 2023 season (also includes the condensed preview of KKR vs. PBKS)
2. IPL 2023 Match 2 Condensed Review- KKR vs. PBKS
3. IPL 2023 Match 9 Condensed KKR Preview
4. IPL 2023 Match 9 Condensed Review- KKR vs. RCB
5. IPL 2023 Match 13 Condensed KKR Preview
6. IPL 2023 Match 13 Condensed Review- KKR vs. GT
7. IPL 2023 Match 19 Condensed KKR Preview
8. IPL 2023 Match 19 Condensed Review- KKR vs. SRH
9. IPL 2023 Match 22 Condensed KKR Preview
10. IPL 2023 Match 22 Condensed Review- KKR vs. MI
11. IPL 2023 Match 28 Condensed KKR Preview
12. IPL 2023 Match 28 Condensed Review- KKR vs. DC
13. IPL 2023 Match 33 Condensed KKR Preview
14. IPL 2023 Match 33 Condensed Review- KKR vs. CSK