Kolkata Knight Riders are third in the points table. (Source: BCCI)
The last time Kolkata Knight Riders played Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2017, the pacers wreaked havoc on RCB, bowling them out for 49, the lowest ever IPL total at the Eden Gardens. But when Kolkata face Bangalore for the second time this season, they will playing at the M Chinnaswamy stadim and KKR assistant coach Simon Katich believes that spinners are expected to play a big role on Sunday.
“We saw that spinners played a major role in the match between RCB and Kings XI Punjab’s on Friday. Bangalore spinners did well, and so did Axar Patel and Glenn Maxwell. I think spin will play a big role. We have a number of spinners in the squad and they are performing well,” Katich said. “We wish to bat well against spin to register a win and stay in the hunt for entering into the knockout stage.”
Katich also confirmed that Nathan Coulter-Nile, who had a head injury, should be available for the game in Bangalore.
“He was hit by Daniel Christian and was quite shaken that day. These days any head injuries, we have to be very cautious as this is dangerous part of the game. He was hit on the head and on the helmet but was protected. For the last couple of days he has been little off colour. But he should be ready for the game,” he said.
The former Australian batsman said there is no chance that they will take Bangalore, who are last in the points table, lightly on Sunday.
“Not at all. T20 is an amazing game you don’t turn up with wrong attitude. Last time we played against Pune we had a poor start, we didn’t executive our plans well, particularly after the powerplay was finished and it cost us the game. We have to start a fresh game.”
As has been the trend in this IPL, Kolkata are also not taking along all their players to the away games and Katich said everybody is doing so.
“Now, we have 23 in the squad. We left behind six players. We want to make sure not everybody went through. Given the schedule most of the teams are doing the same,” he said.
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