Probable XI –
Royal Challengers Bangalore –
Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers (wk), Shahbaz Ahmed, Dan Christian, Harshal Patel, George Garton, Mohammad Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal
Kolkata Knight Riders –
Venkatesh Iyer, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan (c), Sunil Narine, Shakib Al Hasan, Dinesh Karthik, Shivam Mavi, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy
Small League Combination 1 –
1. Kona Srikar Bharat
2. Virat Kohli(VC)
3. Devdutt Padikkal
4. Nitish Rana
5. Shubman Gill
6. Sunil Narine
7. Glenn Maxwell(C)
8. Yuzvendra Chahal
9. Harshal Patel
10. Lockie Ferguson
11. Shivam Mavi
– Going heavy on Bangalore as they’re looking strong to win this encounter.
– Glenn Maxwell and Virat Kohli looks safest C/VC choices considering their current good forms and numbers at venue and H2H matches.
– Taking punt on Nitish Rana at the place of Rahul Tripathi as he has averaged approx 30 at venue and H2H innings.
– Can take anyone from Shakib Al Hasan or Sunil Narine as both will bowl full overs at this spin favoured surface and bat at middle order.
– Shivam Mavi might be a decent credit saver pick especially while bowling second.
– Dropped Venkatesh Iyer as he might not go big with the bat at this slow surface.
Small League Combination 2 –
1. Kona Srikar Bharat
2. Ab De Villiers
3. Virat Kohli
4. Nitish Rana
5. Shubman Gill
6. Shakib Al Hasan
7. Sunil Narine(VC)
8. Glenn Maxwell(C)
9. Harshal Patel
10. Lockie Ferguson
11. Mohammad Siraj
– Ab De might be a decent punt at the place of Padikkal as he’s expected to get promoted to bat up the order.
– Sunil Narine might be a good VC choice as he’s expected to bat at middle order and bowl full overs.
– Can take Rahul Tripathi at the place of Nitish Rana especially if Kolkata bats second.
– Mohammad Siraj might give decent fantasy points especially while bowling first.
– Shubman Gill and Harshal Patel are other good C/VC choices for SL fantasy.
Grand League Combination –
1. Kona Srikar Bharat
2. Virat Kohli
3. Nitish Rana
4. Devdutt Padikkal
5. Shakib Al Hasan (VC)
6. Sunil Narine
7. Glenn Maxwell
8. Mohammad Siraj
9. Yuzvendra Chahal(C)
10. Harshal Patel
11. Shivam Mavi
– Going with a 7-4 combination in the favour of Banglore who are looking strong enough to win this match.
– Expecting Yuzvendra Chahal to take atleast 2-3 wickets at this surface especially while bowling second.
– Shakib Al Hasan might be a good VC choice since he can score decent runs at 4-5 down if top order doesn’t do well and take a couple of wickets at this venue.
– Expecting Nitish Rana to score atleast 30-40 runs especially while batting first.
– Harshal Patel and Nitish Rana are other C/VC choices for grand league combinations.