Royal Challengers Bengaluru v Kolkata Knight Riders IPL Tips: RCB eye top spot

• RCB slight favourites

• Tournament resumes after 10-day break

• Formbook should hold

• Kohli Mr Reliable

• Raghuvanshi underrated

Cricket Superboost

The IPL returns after a 10-day break on Saturday and the Betfair Sportsbook are super-bosting RCB's star man Virat Kohli's price to hit a six from 1/21.50 to 1/12.00. Kohli has hit 18 sixes so far this IPL season, more than any other RCB player.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru v Kolkata Knight Riders
Saturday 17 May, 15:00
TV: Live on Sky Sports

Royal Challengers Bengaluru v Kolkata Knight Riders IPL team news

RCB can go top of the table with two to play with a win. But they are likely to have to do it without Josh Hazlewood, whose shoulder niggle had hit before the tournament suspension. repports suggest he could return next week.

Phil Salt, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Liam Livingstone, Lungi Ngidi and Jacob Bethell are all present. Bethell will be available for only two matches. It is not clear whether Shepherd will be able to play in the play-offs. Ngidi will not be allowed. Mayank Agarwal has replaced the injured Dev Padikkal. Rajat Patidar netted on Thursday calming fears of a finger injury.

Possibe RCB XI: Salt, Kohli, Agarwal (Suyash sub), Patidar, Jitesh, David, Shepherd, Krunal, Bhuv Kumar, Ngidi, Dayal

KKR must win and need an unlikely run of results elsewhere to stand any chance of qualification. Quinton de Kock has returned but Moeen Ali has withdrawn. They are also sweating on the fitness of Rovman Powell.

Powell has been in Dubai while the tournament has been suspended and a replacement could be named before the game starts. De Kock could take back the opening slot from Rahmanullah Gurbaz. Venkatesh Iyer should return. 

Possible KKR XI: De Kock, Narine, Rahane, Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh, Pandey (Harshit sub), Russell, Rinku, Ramandeep, Vaibhav, Varun

Royal Challengers Bengaluru v Kolkata Knight Riders IPL pitch report

Different pitches have been used at the Chinaswammy this season. The first two games saw scores of under 170 and then in a rain-affected game another slow surface produced 95 for nine in 14 overs. All three were chased. Since then a switch appears to have been made to a flatter surface with RCB posting 205 against Rajasthan in a nail-biter. Another close game followed with RCB hanging on by two runs against Chennai going after 213.

The 20-over par line says it's going to be a flat one again with an overs play available at 193.5. The short at 186.5 is tempting but, frankly, we're guessing and will have to wait for the TV pitch report as to what surface is being used. 

Royal Challengers Bengaluru v Kolkata Knight Riders match prediction

To what extent do we trust the formguide after the IPL hiatus? A ten-day break for Indo-Pak aggressions, of course, has more far-reaching and serious consequences but for the context of these pages, it is natural to be perturbed by the impact.

It shouldn't really be such a big deal. Are RCB suddenly going to morph into an inefficient, confused outfit? And KKR make the switch the other way? Probably not. 

The market is spooked, though. RCB at 1.9010/11 given eight wins in 11 against a team that has not even been successful half of the time in a game more looks like value, even with Hazlewood missing. 

Maybe there is a belief that because KKR absolutely have to win, then they will. But we all know sport doesn't work like that and RCB should be skinnier. We will stick to our golden rule, however, of swerving RCB at odds-on and get with them as soon as they hit even money in-play. On key metrics like boundary percentage, average fours and sixes RCB come out on top. 

Royal Challengers Bengaluru v Kolkata Knight Riders IPL pitch report

Kohli, who has announced his retirement from Tests, has four wins from the last eight on top bats. Sportsbook make him a 6/42.50 chance. He is the same price to score a 50 and that would be the smarter bet as it would take team-mates out of the equation. With the ball, Ngidi, an out-and-out wicket-taker, may have little to beat with no Hazlewood. he is 13/53.60 for top RCB bowler.

For KKR, Venkatesh is due a win on his historic rate but we cannot get on board with the 7/24.50. That's far too short considering Angkrish Raghuvanshi has taken his No 4 slot and he deserves more respect at 6/17.00 with three wins already.

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