Kolkata and Bangalore lock horns in Abu Dhabi to play an important encounter for the playoffs in Indian T20 League 2020.
Match Timings: Oct 21, 7:30 PM
Team Preview
The second half of the tournament is pretty tensed as the whole sides are showing their best game to finish in top four. After the remarkable last week, the season is in its final weeks. Lockie Ferguson’s brilliant super over helped Kolkata to get 2 vital points over Hyderabad after losing two back-to-back games. They are in a safe zone until the bottom sides pull off their best game. Punjab and Rajasthan’s recent success can make their journey tough as Kolkata will face both sides later in the month.
Changes in captaincy cannot change their game, the approach will do the wonder. The top-order is not managing runs, despite Gill’s form who is also facing criticism for a poor strike rate. Karthik got quick runs in middle but Russell’s poor form with the bat continues. Ferguson’s inclusion is a big boost to the pace attack and they are optimistic about their bowling unit. We again repeat, Kolkata is a great T20 side on paper but their best version was unseen this season.
Bangalore, meanwhile, had a terrific season and avoided a narrow defeat in the previous game against Rajasthan, thanks to ABD’s carnage in last 2 overs. The death-bowing is still a big issue and Bangalore cannot even deny their dependency over Kohli and ABD. Finch is not in his prime form but somehow, Bangalore manages to find runs from Padikkal at top. Chris Morris and Chahal both are doing exceptional work with the ball. Bangalore had a great season and most probably, they will find their spot in playoffs this time.
Kohli also knows that overexcitement can also spoil the hard-work as other units are going strong and a couple of defeats are enough to change the table for them. They are also eying to finish in top two but to upstage either Mumbai or Delhi, they have to extend their winning run. It’s a game of finding positions in the table and Kolkata gets an upper hand this time. For the last four bottom sides, one more win from Kolkata can make their playoff hopes slightly difficult.
Pitch Report
Abu Dhabi's surface is a decent track for batting and the surfaces are getting slow in UAE from last two weeks. Spinners are controlling runs and pacers are still putting pressure with the new ball. In last one week, chasing sides had the upper hand but still, the captain would try to bat first.
Possible XI
Bangalore
Aaron Finch, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers (wk), Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Washington Sundar, Chris Morris, Shahbaz Ahmed, Isuru Udana, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal
Kolkata
Rahul Tripathi, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Eoin Morgan (c), Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Shivam Mavi, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy
Key Players
Kolkata
Eoin Morgan
This season – M:9, Runs: 248, Avg: 41.33, SR: 132.62
Lockie Ferguson
Previous Outing – 4-0-15-3 & 2-2 in Super Over
Bangalore
Virat Kohli
This season – M: 9, Runs: 347, Avg: 57.83, SR: 127.57
AB de Villiers
This season – M: 9, Runs: 285, Avg: 57, SR: 190
