Raipur, May 13
Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the toss and opted to bowl first against Kolkata Knight Riders in their Indian Premier League 2026 match on Wednesday at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur.
RCB skipper Rajat Patidar said he is expecting the pitch to behave similar to their previous match at the same venue with some variable bounce. He added that the team is confident after a good recent performance and is focused on maintaining pressure and playing consistent cricket, noting that every match is important.
"We will bowl first. I think it's a similar wicket we played in the last match. It will behave in a similar way. We will try to keep them under pressure. I think the wickets are pretty much same. There will be variable bounce. That was a good game for us, everyone has a lot of confidence. Every game is important, we are focussing more on playing good cricket."
RCB are currently second on the points table with seven wins from 11 matches. The Bengaluru side bounced back strongly after two straight defeats by narrowly defeating Mumbai Indians in a thrilling two-wicket win. Riding that momentum, RCB will look to secure another victory and confirm their place in the playoffs.
KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane said his team would have also preferred to bowl first and is vying for a playoff spot. "We wanted to bowl first as well. (In with a chance for the playoffs?) Absolutely, yes. I mean, last four games have been really good for us as a team. Everyone started to do really well. For us, sometimes the game tells you to keep things really simple. For us, it's all about taking one game at a time, keeping it really simple," Rahane said.
KKR are eighth on the table with four wins from 10 matches. After a tough start, the three-time champions have turned their season around with four consecutive wins. Kolkata will aim to extend their winning streak and put up a strong challenge against one of their key rivals.
RCB vs KKR playing 11s:
RCB: Jacob Bethell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Venkatesh Iyer, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rasikh Salam Dar, Jacob Duffy, Josh Hazlewood.
RCB Impact Sub options: Devdutt Padikkal, Jordan Cox, Mangesh Yadav, Swapnil Singh, Romario Shepherd
KKR: Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Cameron Green, Rinku Singh, Manish Pandey, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Kartik Tyagi, Vaibhav Arora
KKR Impact Sub options: Saurabh Dubey, Ramandeep Singh, Tejasvi Singh, Navdeep Saini, Tim Seifert.
- ANI
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