RCB vs KKR, IPL 2023: List of Impact Players in today’s match
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) won the toss and chose to field first against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in match number 36 of the ongoing IPL 2023 on Wednesday (April 26).
Bangalore are coming into the game with two back-to-back wins to their name. The side have won four of their first seven games and are placed fifth in the points table.
Kolkata, on the other hand, have lost four matches on the trot and are in desperate need of a turnaround. With just two victories from seven fixtures, they are languishing in the eighth spot in the standings.
This is the second time that the teams are battling it out against each other this season. KKR secured a comprehensive 81-run victory over RCB at Eden Gardens earlier in the tournament.
List of substitute players for the RCB vs KKR match
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis, Akash Deep, Karn Sharma, Finn Allen, Anuj Rawat.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Mandeep Singh, Litton Das, Anukul Roy, Suyash Sharma, Kulwant Khejroliya
Both sides used the impact player rule after the completion of the first innings. For RCB, Faf du Plessiss came out to open the innings in the run chase, replacing Harshal Patel in the XI
KKR, meanwhile, added leg spinner Suyash Sharma to their lineup in place of Jason Roy. Interestingly, Sharma, in his very first over, bagged the wicket of du Plessis
RCB's stand-in captain Virat Kohli stated at the toss that the side opted to bowl first given their impressive record while chasing at the venue. He mentioned that Faf du Plessis will come in as the impact player later in the second innings.
Kohli said:
"Decided to bowl first. No brainer. Evening game at Chinnaswamy, we've chased well here. It was unexpected but nothing I'm not used to (stand-in captaincy). It's been fun so far because of the way the team has been playing.
"Faf will be playing the impact role again. Hopefully, he'll be back leading from the next game. Looks like a great pitch, the usual Chinnaswamy pitch that we expect."
Speaking at the toss, KKR skipper Nitish Rana emphasized that it will be important for the team to step up as the competition enters its second half. He explained:
"Second half of the tournament has started, it's an important game. We've played some good cricket, some not so good. It's time to step up. If we play well collectively, the result will be in our favor. In previous games, we've had forced changes. Shardul had a niggle, Gurbaz had a niggle. We were going to bat."
RCB vs KKR playing XIs
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (c), Shahbaz Ahmed, Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik (w), Suyash Prabhudessai, Wanindu Hasaranga, David Willey, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj
Kolkata Knight Riders: N Jagadeesan (w), Jason Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, David Wiese, Vaibhav Arora, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy