Last Updated on 1 month by Charbel Coorey

KKR vs RCB Dream11 Prediction & Fan2Play Possible 11 Pitch Report: IPL 2023 Match 9 | KOL vs RCB Dream11 Prediction Today | Eden Gardens Pitch Report

The IPL returns to Eden Gardens, and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) need a happy homecoming. Their flaws were on display against Punjab Kings, with a focus now on rectifying those in an important early-season clash against the confident Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

RCB have won five of their past seven games against KKR. Here is the perfect opportunity for Faf du Plessis’ team to add to that. Mohammed Siraj was back to his powerplay best against Mumbai Indians, while du Plessis and Virat Kohli reminded us of just how good they are. However, how RCB deal with their injury concerns – now including Reece Topley – is a big test of their credentials.

For KKR, how will they reduce their reliance on Andre Russell? With Shreyas Iyer not available, and Jason Roy not yet with the squad, the onus is on a relatively inexperienced top order to set a platform for the likes of Russell, Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh. Indeed, that is easier said than done against Siraj and co. on what is expected to be a pacy Eden Gardens pitch, but KKR have seamers of their own who can cause damage.

Match Details

• Location: Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
• Time: 7:30pm (IST).
• For more cricket fixtures around the world, visit Fixture Calendar.

IPL 2023 Match 9: KKR vs RCB Possible Playing XIs

In the last match, KKR substituted Varun Chakravarthy for Venkatesh Iyer after bowling first. They may implement the same strategy here.

Andre Russell is set to play his 100th IPL match. His fellow West Indian Sunil Narine will play his 150th.

Kolkata Knight Riders: 1. Mandeep Singh, 2. Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 3. Anukul Roy, 4. Venkatesh Iyer, 5. Nitish Rana (c), 6. Andre Russell, 7. Sunil Narine, 8. Shardul Thakur, 9. Varun Chakravarthy, 10. Umesh Yadav, 11. Tim Southee

David Willey is likely to come in for Reece Topley. Rajat Patidar is out of IPL 2023. If they bat first, they may bring in Suyash Prabhudessai for one of the bowlers, i.e. Siraj, and then sub the seamer in for the second innings.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1. Faf du Plessis (c), 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

Key Players to Watch/Key Stats

Kolkata Knight Riders:

• A lot rests on Andre Russell. He has an unbelievable record against RCB, with 364 runs in 12 matches at an average of 45.50 and strike rate of 208. He also has ten wickets.
• Nitish Rana has solid numbers against RCB. The captain has struck 231 runs in nine innings at an average of 33.00 and strike rate of 144.38. He also has similar stats at Eden Gardens: 14 inns, 464 runs, avg. 34.62, SR 140.19.
• Rana has faced 21 balls against Mohammed Siraj and strikes at 157.1. He has been dismissed once, so this could be an interesting battle today.
• Venkatesh Iyer vs RCB: 3 inns, 77 runs, avg. 38.50, SR 108.45.
• Virat Kohli has a strike rate of just 103.1 in the IPL against Sunil Narine (101 off 98, three dismissals). Narine also has the most wickets of any bowler at Eden Gardens, with 56 in 44 innings at a strike rate of 18.29.
• Umesh Yadav against RCB’s openers promises to be a great watch. He has dismissed du Plessis once in 15 balls, conceding 12. Also, Umesh has dominated Glenn Maxwell in T20s, with total figures of 4/31 in 28 deliveries.
• Tim Southee also has good numbers against Faf, with total figures of 2/27 off 16 balls in T20s.

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

• Virat Kohli has a great record against Umesh (150 runs off 85 balls, three dismissals), but early movement at Eden Gardens makes Yadav a dangerous customer. If Virat gets going, watch out.
• Virat has the most runs in KKR-RCB matches (786) at an average of 34.17 and strike rate of 128.64. He also loves batting at Kolkata, with 471 runs on this ground (avg. 42.82, SR 128.34).
• Faf du Plessis was man of the match against Mumbai Indians with a 43-ball 73. KKR is one of Faf’s favourite opponents, with 432 runs at an average of 39.27 and strike rate of 131.71.
• Interestingly, du Plessis has a poor past record at Eden Gardens: 7 inns, 108 runs, avg. 15.43, SR 131.71.
• Glenn Maxwell has smashed 84 runs off 43 balls against Southee in all T20s (three dismissals). But, his poor record against Umesh (mentioned above) and Sunil Narine (4/93 off 84 balls) is something for him to overcome.
• Mohammed Siraj was superb in the powerplay against MI. But, RCB may also look to use him against Andre Russell. He has bowled 18 deliveries to the West Indian, dismissing him once whilst conceding just 22.
• Siraj has taken nine wickets in as many matches against KKR at an average of 24.33 and economy of 7.22.
• Harshal Patel has dismissed Andre Russell twice in 26 balls, conceding a respectable 35. Harshal has 12 career wickets in ten matches vs KKR (SR 17.50) and nine wickets in seven matches at Eden Gardens (SR 17.33).

Other Stats and Facts

• Head-to-head: Matches 31, KKR 17, RCB 14.
• Andre Russell’s batting record at Eden Gardens: 25 inns, 700 runs, avg. 38.89, SR 199.43.
• Virat Kohli has scored 67 off 42 against Shardul Thakur in the IPL.
• Faf du Plessis in T20s in 2023: 13 inns, 482 runs, avg. 40.17, SR 146.50.
• Umesh takes one wicket every 24 deliveries on average on this ground. Can he improve on this?
• Karn Sharma at Eden Gardens: 6 matches, 8 wickets, avg. 19.50, SR 12.75.

Eden Gardens Kolkata Pitch Report and Weather

Expect the Eden Gardens surface to have something in it for the quicks, with early swing and dew on the menu. So, the captain who wins the toss is likely to chase.

There were two high-scoring matches on this ground in IPL 2022. Gujarat chased Rajasthan’s 188 with three balls to spare, before RCB scored 207 and beat LSG by 16 runs. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in October and November 2022, the average first innings score in seven matches was 176.14. The team batting first won four of these games.

A hot and clear night is forecast in Kolkata.

IPL 2023 Match 9: KKR vs RCB Dream11 Prediction Today Match 6 April 2023

Note: The below teams are not based on the final playing XIs. We may not be able to update these in time. Use the stats and commentary in this article as well as your own instincts to create your teams.

Option 1:

Option 2:

Fan2Play Prediction

Base team:

• Wicket-keepers: Rahmanullah Gurbaz
• Batters: Virat Kohli
• All-rounders: Andre Russell
• Bowlers: Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav

IPL 2023 Match 9: KKR vs RCB Match Prediction – Who will win?

RCB start as favourites, but KKR cannot be counted out at home with their bowling attack. The chasing team is likelier to win, so the team batting first needs to aim for 180+ to feel competitive.