Rajat Patidar, captaining Royal Challengers Bengaluru, opted to bowl as his side takes on Kolkata Knight Riders in Raipur for their second match of the campaign. The toss happened with the rain around, pushing the start back by an hour and 15 minutes, though the match has not lost a single over.
Quick facts
- RCB chose to bowl first against KKR in Raipur.
- Rain delayed the start by 1 hour 15 minutes; no overs were lost.
- RCB made a bowling-focused change: Jacob Duffy comes in for Suyash Sharma.
- KKR brought in Saurabh Dubey, replacing the injured Akash Deep.
- RCB’s chase of the top spot depends on tonight’s result; KKR’s win would lift them from eighth to seventh.
At the toss, Patidar framed bowling first as the straightforward route for the match. RCB backed that call, and the confidence is rooted in what they did at this venue on Sunday, when they chased down Mumbai Indians in a high-pressure finish.
The earlier game featured a pitch that helped seam bowlers with movement and delivered an uneven bounce. Patidar believes the surface for this contest—played on a nearby strip—could offer a similar feel, prompting RCB to lean harder into their fast-bowling options.
Team changes and playing XI
That thinking shaped their selection. RCB added Jacob Duffy, bringing him in as the seam-bowling option and sidelining legspinner Suyash Sharma. With the overseas allrounder Romario Shepherd left out, Venkatesh Iyer has been named in the XI, while Devdutt Padikkal begins on the Impact Player bench.
KKR’s approach mirrored the same logic of adjusting for conditions. They introduced Vidarbha left-arm seamer Saurabh Dubey, who comes in after Akash Deep suffered an injury. Dubey’s inclusion also means Varun Chakravarthy misses out after hurting his foot during KKR’s match against Delhi Capitals, and Dubey starts the game from the bench.
There is also plenty riding on the standings. If RCB win tonight, they will move to the top of the table, leapfrogging Gujarat Titans by net run rate. A KKR victory would propel them from eighth to seventh and put them within two points of Punjab Kings in fourth place.
Kolkata Knight Riders (XI): Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Cameron Green, Rinku Singh, Manish Pandey, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Kartik Tyagi, Vaibhav Arora. Impact bench: Saurabh Dubey, Ramandeep Singh, Tejasvi Singh, Navdeep Saini, Tim Seifert.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (XI): Jacob Bethell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar (capt), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Krunal Pandya, Tim David, Venkatesh Iyer, Rasikh Salam, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Jacob Duffy. Impact bench: Devdutt Padikkal, Jordan Cox, Mangesh Yadav, Swapnil Singh, Romario Shepherd.
