Faf du Plessis and Co to go unchanged, David Willey expected to continue: RCB's likely XI vs KKR in IPL 2023

RCB face KKR in their upcoming IPL 2023 match, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Here is RCB's likely XI.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will take on the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the IPL 2023 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on April 26. RCB will look for their third consecutive win after defeating the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their last game in Bangalore.

RCB are expected to field an unchanged XI in their IPL 2023 match vs KKR. (IPL Twitter)

RCB have had a very favourable schedule at the start of the season. This will be their sixth home game of the season out of the seven they will play in total. After the game against KKR in Bangalore RCB have five away games in a row before finishing their campaign at home against the defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT).

RCB have won four and lost three of their seven games so far. They dominated MI in their opening game of the season. In the reverse fixture KKR handed them their first loss of the season as RCB were comfortably second best in Kolkata. LSG then beat RCB in a final ball thriller in Bangalore. RCB then beat DC in Bangalore before CSK defeated them in another thrilling finish at the Chinnaswamy. Royal Challengers Bangalore got back to winning ways as they beat the Punjab Kings at the IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali.

Last time out, RCB made it two wins in a row as they beat Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 7 runs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Faf du Plessis' authoritative 62 off 39 and Glenn Maxwell's blockbuster 77 off 44 helped RCB post 189/9. Harshal Patel then took the team over the line with a crucial spell of 3/32 as he held his nerve in the last over and defended 20 runs to win the match for RCB.

RCB’s reliance on the top three is as evident as always. Du Plessis is the top run-scorer this season with 405 runs and has already scored five fifty plus scores this season. Kohli has scored 279 runs. While, Maxwell has chipped in with 253 runs in the seven games so far. None of the other batters in the team have even a hundred runs so far. Dinesh Karthik, Mahipal Lomror and Shahbaz Ahmed have all been poor this season and have only scored 142 runs between them. The top three have been in great form this season and RCB would be thankful for it as without them they would probably be the worst batting side in the league.

RCB will be hoping that Josh Hazlewood will return to fitness in time to play some games in the latter part of the tournament. In Hazlewood’s absence Siraj has been magnificent so far this season and has picked up thirteen wickets at an economy of seven this season. Harshal Patel and Wayne Parnell have picked up ten and six wickets respectively. Karn Sharma, Wanindu Hasaranga and Vijaykumar Vyshak have also chipped in with important scalps.

David Willey is expected to continue in the side for the game against KKR after he replaced Parnell for the last game. Karn Sharma, Mahipal Lomror, Vijaykumar Vyshak or Anuj Rawat could be used as the Impact player depending on whether RCB bat first or second.

RCB’s likely XI vs KKR:

Openers: Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli.

Middle Order: Dinesh Karthik (wk), Suyash Prabhudessai.

All-Rounders: Glenn Maxwell, Wanindu Hasaranga, Shahbaz Ahmed.

Bowlers: David Willey, Harshal Patel, Mohammad Siraj, Vijaykumar Vishak.

Impact Player

For their Impact Player option, RCB will rely on Karn Sharma, Mahipal Lomror, Vijaykumar Vyshak or Anuj Rawat.