The match, which Kolkata are playing a home game for the first time after 2019, also marks Sunil Narine’s 150th IPL game, with Andre Russell completing a century of appearances in the tournament.
Kolkata come into their first home game of IPL 2023 on the back of a seven-run loss to Punjab Kings in a rain-hit game, while Bangalore arrive after beating Mumbai Indians by eight wickets.
After winning the toss, Du Plessis said England’s left-arm pace all-rounder David Willey came in for Reece Topley, who suffered a right shoulder dislocation while fielding.
“There was dew last night. Hoping it will get skiddy in the second innings. Reaching the playoffs is a long way away. Today is a completely new game. Really motivated to put in a good performance,” he said.
Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Nitish Rana said leg-spinner Suyash Sharma makes his debut, with him being slotted in the substitutes, and could be brought in when the two-time champions are in their bowling innings.
“Was looking to bowl as well because of the dew factor,” said Rana.
Playing XIs:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Mandeep Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wicketkeeper), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (captain), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy
Substitutes: Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Narayan Jagadeesan, David Wiese
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (captain), Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper), Glenn Maxwell, Michael Bracewell, Shahbaz Ahmed, David Willey, Karn Sharma, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj
Substitutes: Finn Allen, Sonu Yadav, Mahipal Lomror, Suyash S Prabhudessai, Anuj Rawat
–IANS
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