IPL 2021 | RCB play three overseas players as Virat Kohli opts to bat against KKR
In a surprising move, the Royal Challengers Bangalore decided to play with only three overseas players as the side dropped Australia's Dan Christian for Rajat Patidar in the game against Kolkata Knight Riders in Chennai.
RCB won the toss and chose to bat.
The KKR, meanwhile, have made no changes in the XI which faced Mumbai Indians in the side's previous game.
Royal Challengers Bangalore have won both of their opening games of the season and will be aiming for a third successive victory when they meet Eoin Morgan's Kolkata Knight Riders in Chennai.
RCB defeated defending champions Mumbai Indians in the first game of the 2021 edition, and made a stellar comeback from a seemingly losing position to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by six runs.
The KKR, meanwhile, held their nerves to beat SRH in the first match, but lost all momentum with a disastrous loss in the second game against MI. A win was almost inevitable for the Knight Riders in the 153-run chase, but the side faced a huge batting order collapse to go from 104/2 to eventually finishing on 142/7.
RCB have a chance to go to the top of the table with a victory against KKR on Sunday, which also sees the first day match of the 2021 edition of the tournament.
Here are the playing XIs:
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan(c), Shakib Al Hasan, Dinesh Karthik(w), Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Harbhajan Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy
Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI): Virat Kohli(c), Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers(w), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Kyle Jamieson, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal
