🏏IPL 2023: Match 9 - RCB vs KKR on 06/04/23 at 7:30 PM IST 🏏

🏏IPL 2023: Match 9 - RCB vs KKR at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on 06/04/23 at 7:30 PM IST 🏏

Tag and Logo credit goes to Sandy aka Sevenstreaks

KKR pin their hopes on Narine and Russell against Kohli-powered RCB

Knight Riders' top six faces a big challenge as the IPL returns to the Eden Gardens

If a depleted Royal Challengers Bangalore attack could deflate the power-packed Mumbai Indians at the batting-friendly Chinnaswamy Stadium, imagine what they could do at a more pace-friendly Eden Gardens against the underwhelming top six of Kolkata Knight Riders.

Against Punjab Kings' bowling attack, which doesn't look the most threatening in the tournament, Knight Riders were 146 for 7 in 16 overs, without a single marquee name in their top six which managed a combined 90 runs off 74 balls, leaving too much on Andre Russell's shoulders and weathered knees. They signing of Jason Roy is a clear boost, but he won't be joining them in time for this game.

On Thursday, they have to match the fired-up top order of Royal Challengers. In the previous match, Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis scored blazing half-centuries, hammering 11 sixes and as many fours together. Both of them like pace onto the bat, which could put the onus on the Knight Riders' spin trio of Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Anukul Roy, if he gets another game. Spinners have been more economical compared to the quicks in Kolkata since 2018, and both du Plessis and Kohli haven't scored as quickly against spinners in the last three IPLs. Kohli also doesn't have a great record against both Narine and Varun. Remember the 2021 eliminator when Narine single-handedly took out the trio of Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers to help his team to the final?

Even if Knight Riders can't replicate that performance, they will be hoping to put up a better show in front of their home crowd.

PS: Don't forget to send your predictions for Match 9

Deadline for toss prediction: 7:00PM IST

Deadline for rest of the predictions: 7:30PM IST

Make sure you hit "Submit prediction" button for initial predictions and "Update Prediction" button after making any subsequent changes to register your predictions.

KKR vs RCB: Weather Report Live Today, Pitch Report Of Kolkata Stadium- IPL 2023, Match 9

The KKR vs RCB contest will be starting at 7.30 pm IST. The pitch at Eden Gardens is considered to be one of the better batting tracks in T20I cricket. The spinners tend to come into action as the match wears on more than the pacers. Spinners have enjoyed bowling here in IPL games as well. KKR have two good spinners to reap the rewards at this venue.

Speaking about the weather conditions, Bengal has seen some unseasonal rain in the last few days. The weather will be around 26 degrees in the evening mainly with clear skies. The humidity will be close to 60 percent and there is no prediction of rain thankfully. However, as always in evening games in the IPL, dew is expected to play a key role in the contest.

Pitch and conditions - Home disadvantage

The trend at Eden Gardens in the IPL has mostly been to chase. The pitch usually has something for the quicks and spinners both, and the bigger dimensions mean boundaries may not come as often as they did for Kohli and du Plessis at the Chinnaswamy Stadium a few days ago. It's expected to be slightly humid with temperatures in the late 20s in the evening, and some early swing and dew later as usual.

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Originally posted by: BeingBlunt

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Toss and Impact Player strategy

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Royal Challengers didn't have to use the Impact Player rule in their convincing win against Mumbai. If they bat second like they did that day, they can bring in another batter like Suyash Prabhudessai or Anuj Rawat in place of Akash Deep or Mohammed Siraj, and do the opposite while batting first.

Probable bat-first XI: 1 Faf du Plessis (capt), 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Glenn Maxwell, 4 Michael Bracewell, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Suyash Prabhudessai, 7 Shahbaz Ahmed, 8 Harshal Patel, 9 Akash Deep, 10 David Willey, 11 Karn Sharma

Probable bowl-first XI: 1 Faf du Plessis (capt), 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Glenn Maxwell, 4 Michael Bracewell, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Shahbaz Ahmed, 7 Harshal Patel, 8 Akash Deep, 9 David Willey, 10 Karn Sharma, 11 Mohammed Siraj

Kolkata Knight Riders

While batting second against Kings, they subbed out Varun to bring in Venkatesh Iyer in the chase, and they could stick to a similar strategy in this game as well. Batting first, they could start with an extra batter with Russell slotted at No. 7 and Narine at 8, and sub out Mandeep Singh for a bowler to retain Venkatesh's bowling option for the second innings. In either case, they could also play Kulwant Khejroliya instead of Shardul Thakur, who leaked 43 in the first game, with enough batting depth.

Possible bat-first XI: 1 Mandeep Singh, 2 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 3 Anukul Roy, 4 Venkatesh Iyer, 5 Nitish Rana (capt), 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Sunil Narine, 9 Shardul Thakur/Kulwant Khejroliya, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Tim Southee

Possible bowl-first XI: 1 Mandeep Singh, 2 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 3 Anukul Roy, 4 Venkatesh Iyer, 5 Nitish Rana (capt), 6 Andre Russell, 7 Sunil Narine, 8 Shardul Thakur/Kulwant Khejroliya, 9 Varun Chakravarthy, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Tim Southee

Thank you for the tag Rajji🤗

Stats that matter - Tie Kohli up with spin

• Maxwell, Kohli and du Plessis don't have great strike rates against Narine in the IPL. Maxwell's stands at 101.75 (58 off 57 balls), Kohli's at 103.06 (101 off 98) and du Plessis' at 80 (36 off 45 balls)
• On the other hand, Kohli loves hitting out against the India quicks in the Knight Riders squad. He has hit Umesh Yadav for 150 runs off 85 balls and Thakur for 67 off 42. So don't be surprised if they introduce Narine early against Kohli and du Plessis.
• Russell is going to play his 100th IPL game and Narine his 150th, and it will be in front of the Knight Riders home crowd.

Thanks for the tag Raji

RCB FTW 🥳🥳

Disclaimer: This is just a prediction/guess.

Don't shoot the messenger.😊

"Win the toss and win the game" days are gone.

MI W proved it in WPL

What to expect: Even on a weekday, a full house crowd is expected at the venue. There's no rain expected and the pitch should be a good one to bat on but expect some help for the spinners. Ravi Bishnoi and Axar Patel saw some success for India in the most recent T20Is here.