Key match stats
Pitch Stats – M Chinnaswamy Stadium
Average first innings score: 170
Average first innings winning score: 189
Average powerplay score: 46
Win % batting 1st vs batting 2nd: 42% / 54%
Team form RCB vs KKR
RCB: WWLWL
KKR LLLLW
Recent meetings: KKR won by 81 runs
Preview RCB vs KKR
As we've now reached the half way mark of IPL 2023, we can see who the likely contenders are going to be and who stands little chance of reaching the playoffs. You probably don't need me to tell you which camp both these sides fall into ...
RCB recorded a valuable win over high flying Rajasthan in their last match, exploiting the favorable batting conditions early in the game to get a good total on the board and then holding their nerve to deliver the win.
Given that we've seen RCB throw away a couple of similar positions of strength in this year's tournament, most notably against LSG not to mention today's opponents, whom they had 89 for 5 at one stage when they met early in the season, it will be a relief that they were able to close out the game against RR's strong lower order.
The good news for Bangalore is that their big guns are all firing in this year's tournament with Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell in particular looking in fantastic form. The bad news is that no one else looks to be capable of taking up the baton once those guys are out. After Maxwell was dismissed at the very end of the 15th over, RCB added just 33 runs in the last 30 balls of their innings vs Rajasthan, losing 5 wickets along the way.
Clearly the loss of Rajit Patidar just prior to the season starting was a blow to this Bangalore side and they'll be very disappointed that the likes of Dinesh Karthik hasn't been able to fire in the way he has over the past couple of seasons. The real risk then is what happens if a couple of the top order fail or worse yet what if Faf du Plessis' injury means he's unable to play? RCB's eggs are presently all in one or two baskets!
As for KKR, they remain fortunate that a couple of spectacular individual performances have provided them with 2 victories this season because otherwise they could find themselves in even bigger trouble! They have now lost their last 4 games and continue to have no top order to speak of.
Jason Roy might have offered a ray of hope in that regard and his incredible 61 off 26 balls did theoretically keep them in the game against CSK up until the last few overs. However, it seems likely that he's aggravated a long standing calf injury that has seen him miss a significant amount of cricket over the last couple of seasons.
The fact that he did bat, albeit later in the piece, suggests it's not an outright tear and we have seen that with the new impact sub rule, batsmen with "niggles" can be spared the need to field and brought in to fill their primary role with the bat. In fact, that is exactly what today's opponents RCB have done with du Plessis in their last couple of matches. Might KKR do something similar with Roy?
We know that M Chinnaswamy Stadium is likely to provide a high scoring, big hitting contest and both sides have plenty of players capable of enjoying such an environment.
KKR can take some solace from the fact that they dished out a very heavy defeat to RCB earlier in the tournament off the back of a great knock from Shardul Thakur before their spinners went to work on a turning Eden Gardens pitch.
They are very unlikely to benefit from similar conditions in this game and outside of that win and the low scoring match they played out on another turning track in Delhi, KKR have been conceding at over 10 an over for the remainder of the tournament.
If they can't stop this RCB top order early in the match then it's difficult to imagine that they won't be on the end of a big score again today and will once more be relying on one or more of their batsmen delivering a standout performance to get them something from this game.
RCB vs KKR head to head
KKR bowling vs RCB batting
So who is going to take the early wickets for KKR that could expose this weak looking RCB middle order to some pressure?
Narine T20 head to head vs Faf and Virat
In their match earlier in the season it was the spinners who did the damage with Narine knocking over Kohli and Chakravarthy accounting for both du Plessis and Maxwell. That was after an opening stand of 44 where both RCB openers looked very comfortable against the seamers.
That being said, we have seen that the ball will swing here early on if given a chance, a fact that the likes of Siraj, Willey and Parnell have exploited for the home side all season. KKR do have Umesh Yadav who of course knows these conditions very well from the couple of years he spent with Bangalore.
Umesh Yadav IPL powerplay bowling stats at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium
His overall record at the M Chinnaswamy is very good with 25 wickets at an average of 26 in IPL matches on this ground and it probably comes as little surprise that 15 of those wickets have come during the powerplay.
RCB bowling vs KKR batting
KKR's faltering top order comes up against the most effective powerplay bowling unit in the competition. Mohammed Siraj and David Willey have been both accurate and deadly with the ball early in the innings and they'll fancy their chances of adding to the impressive numbers below against a side that routinely finds itself 3 down within the first 6 overs.
Willey and Siraj IPL 2023 powerplay bowling stats
Through the middle overs, Wanindu Hasaranga hasn't quite hit his straps yet and to be honest playing at the M Chinnaswamy for the majority of the early part of the season was always likely to limit his effectiveness. However, he does have a good record against a couple of the KKR batsmen including Jason Roy who he has bamboozled the last couple of times the players have met. If Roy is fit to play then I'd expect that Hasaranga will get an early look at the England opener.
Hasaranga all wickets vs Jason Roy in T20 cricket
Of course, KKR have no limit on the batsmen who could do some serious damage here in Bangalore and Andre Russell has certainly shown that in his previous visits.
Dre Russell IPL batting stats in Bangalore
However, the last of Russell's blistering innings at this ground came back in 2019 and it would be fair to say that his career has been on a downward trajectory since then. I'm still somewhat surprised that given his lower return in 2020 and 2021, plus his age and fitness concerns, that KKR opted to retain him ahead of the mega-auction 18 months ago. If he's unable to find form in these kind of matches, is it time for the Knight Riders to consider alternatives?
All stats used in this blog are from my own databases which are freely accessible below
IPL head to head player stats
IPL player stats by venue
IPL stadium statistics.
Images are my own with the exception of player profiles and highlights within GIFs which are not intended to infringe copyright- read full disclaimer. Background images are used under a creative commons license or otherwise royalty free.