IPL 2018: KKR vs RCB - Preview, head-to-head, pitch report, key stats

We had a fantastic start to the Indian Premier League with a high octane finish between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians. It was Dwayne Bravo who kept his nerves in check and took Chennai over the finishing line.

Let us now move on to another match that is expected to be a close encounter. In match No. 3 of IPL 2018, Royal Challengers Bangalore will meet Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

The last time KKR and RCB played at the Eden Gardens, RCB were all out at 49, creating an unwanted record as they scored the lowest team total in the history of the league.

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore Match 3 Details:

Match Date: 08 April 2018, Sunday

Match Timing: 20:00 IST, 14:30 GMT

Match Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata, India

Expected Crowd Turnout: The game is expected to be a house-full.

Weather Conditions:

Eden Gardens witnessed thundershowers ahead of Sunday's clash. And, with a forecast of 80 percent thundershowers on the match day, there remains a high risk of the match being curtailed.

Pitch report:

The Eden Gardens track is considered as one of the better batting surfaces, although spinners tend to come into action as the match wears on. Spinners have enjoyed bowling here in IPL games as well.

Head-to-head:

KKR have a slight edge over RCB with 11 wins under their belt in comparison to nine wins for the latter. Last season, KKR won both the home and away fixtures.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) IPL 2018 Squad:

KKR would like to continue their dominance over RCB

Robin Uthappa (wk), Dinesh Karthik (c), Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Shubman Gill, Mitchell Johnson, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Apoorv Wankhade, Rinku Singh, Shivam Mavi, Cameron Delport, Javon Searles, Tom Curran, Ishank Jaggi, and Kamlesh Nagarkoti.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) IPL 2018 Squad:

RCB would be hoping to start the tournament on a high

Quinton de Kock (wk), Virat Kohli (c), Manan Vohra, AB de Villiers, Mandeep Singh, Colin de Grandhomme, Chris Woakes, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Sarfaraz Khan, Brendon McCullum, Parthiv Patel, Moeen Ali, Kulwant Khejroliya, Aniket Choudhary, Navdeep Saini, Murugan Ashwin, Pawan Negi, Corey Anderson, Aniruddha Joshi, Pavan Deshpande, and Tim Southee.

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All the stats and numbers to look out ahead of the match No. 3 between KKR and RCB:

2 – The number of wickets required by Piyush Chawla to surpass Harbhajan Singh in the leader's board of most IPL wickets. Scalping two more wickets, he will become the third highest wicket-taker in the history of the league. Chawla has taken 126 IPL wickets.

4 – Piyush Chawla has dismissed AB de Villiers four times in the IPL. This is the joint-most AB de Villiers has gotten out to any bowler.

43 – Manan Vohra is just 43 runs from the milestone of 1000 IPL runs. He will become the first uncapped player in the history of IPL to score 1000 runs.

101.96 – The strike-rate at which Virat Kohli (52 runs at 51 balls) has scored against Sunil Narine. The strike-rate of 101.96 is the lowest for Kohli against a bowler in IPL (minimum 30 balls).

127 – Virat Kohli needs 127 runs more to become the highest run-scorer in the history of IPL. He will surpass Suresh Raina to reach the milestone.