Bangalore, April 09: Star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore, once title favrouites, but now struggling to stay in contention for a semifinal berth, will face a stern test against Kolkata Knight Riders in the DLF-IPL tie to be played at M Chinnaswamy stadium tomorrow.
With the race for the semi finals heating up, four defeats in the last five matches has pushed the Vijay Mallya franchise, to the middle rung of the eight team table. A loss tomorrow may put paid to their hopes of avenging their final loss to Deccan Chargers in the IPL II in South Africa last year.
Topping the table for some time and later in the second position in the points tally, RCB lost their way after some ordinary bowling saw their campaign going off track.
However, Anil Kumble’s team still appear to have the edge against Knight Riders who may feel the pinch of not having Saurav Ganguly leading the challenge, due to an ankle injury. In his absence Kiwi all rounder Brendon McCullum may lead the side.
King (Shah Rukh) Khan’s boys, are in the same boat as RCB with five wins and as many losses in ten games played so far have beein through an ‘up and down’ journey so far in the league. They were resurrected by Dada, who exhibited his batting prowess in the recent wins to put the team in line for a semi-final berth, emerging as the ‘Man of the Match’ twice in succession.
But inconsistency still plagues the team that looks to West Indian captain Chris Gail and McCullum, who led the squad last year, to fire on all cylinder if the Riders are to upset the applecart of the Challengers.
—Agencies