Injury woes for the Royal Challengers Bangalore

It was the last thing that the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) wanted before their must-win match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). The Bangalore side will be missing the services of AB de Villiers, who was ruled out of the tournament he broke a finger during a practice session on Wednesday.

But, Daniel Vettori’s men are not thinking much about the incident and are looking to notch up their first win in the tournament against a team that is already under pressure. “Not having AB is a big loss but we have to cope up with it.  We have quality players in our ranks and we have to step up and take more responsibility now,” said Virat Kohli. The match is a do-or-die for both the teams.

KKR need a win to keep alive hopes of an outside chance of making it to the semifinals. On the other hand, a loss will put RCB in a difficult situation.

RCB will have Tillakratne Dilshan or Arun Kartick to take AB de Villiers’ place on Thursday but their problems don’t end there. They are putting in all their concentration on fielding, which was a cause for their loss against Warriors in their opening match. “A couple of lapses cost us the game but overall the energy and keenness in the field is important,’ pointed out Kohli, who was guilty of dropping the catch of Ashwell Prince. Prince went on to play a match-winning knock.

KKR will have nothing to lose. SRK’s men would certainly be looking to improve their record against RCB. In IPL-4, RCB had won both their matches against the Kolkata outfit and for KKR nothing will be sweeter than beating RCB in their own backyard. Unlike RCB, the good news for KKR is that all the players are fit.