Royal Challengers Bengaluru arrive in Raipur as defending champions with 7 wins from 11 games and a firm grip on a playoff place. They won six of their first eight, lost to Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants, then answered with a last-ball victory over Mumbai Indians. Krunal Pandya made 73 off 46 balls through cramps in that chase after RCB had slipped to 39/3 in the powerplay.
The batting is led by Virat Kohli, who has 379 runs at a strike rate of 163.36, with Devdutt Padikkal on 328 and captain Rajat Patidar on 326 at a strike rate close to 200. Phil Salt scored 202 in six games earlier in the season and is expected back, while Tim David has 232 runs as a finisher. Bhuvneshwar Kumar leads the attack with 21 wickets, backed by Krunal and Josh Hazlewood on 10 each.
Kolkata Knight Riders failed to win any of their first six games and then reeled off four wins in a row under Ajinkya Rahane, the latest in Delhi, where Finn Allen hit an unbeaten 100 off 47 balls to finish a chase in 14.2 overs. Angkrish Raghuvanshi has 269 runs, Cameron Green 232, and Rinku Singh averages above 59. Sunil Narine has 10 wickets at an economy of 6.51, Kartik Tyagi has 13 and Vaibhav Arora 11, though a toe injury to Varun Chakravarthy is a concern and Matheesha Pathirana is still working back to fitness.
