A match between Royal Challengers Benagaluru and Kolkata Knight Riders at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru is set to resume the Indian Premier League 2025 on Saturday. The edition was suspended for one week due to the escalated military tensions between India and Pakistan. Now that things are returning to normalcy, the T20 extravaganza will continue to entertain the crowd with the quality of cricket it offers. While the season is set to restart, rain in Bengaluru might ruin the joy in the first match post-resumption.
As per AccuWeather, Bengaluru is expected to receive thunderstorm from 5 pm IST onwards. While 58 per cent of the city is expected to be covered by rain at that time, it decreases to 51 per cent by 6 pm. 7 pm, the scheduled toss time for the game has 71 per cent probability which reduces to 69%, 49% and 34% in the next three hours.
See a detailed forecast here –
During the RCB vs KKR game, the spotlight will firmly be on Virat Kohli following his recent Test retirement.
The unexpected 10-day break has left both the RCB and the KKR with different goals to achieve and common challenges to hurdle over.
The RCB are second on the table with 16 points from 11 matches, and a win here can propel them to the playoffs.
KKR are sixth on the table with 11 points from 12 games, and a slip-up will evaporate the defending champions’ hopes of making the knockouts.
They are also faced with the challenging task of hitting the pre-break intensity straightaway at the Chinnaswamy stadium.
The hosts are coming off a four-match winning streak while the tourists have managed to stitch two victories in three matches before the league came to a grinding halt. Questions remain on whether they can regain that competitive edge after a passage of uncertainty.
But RCB are better-placed to surmount these difficulties, and the sight of skipper Rajat Patidar batting rather fluently at nets might have soothed a lot of nerves.
Patidar had injured his finger during the home match against Chennai Super Kings, forcing him to wear a splint.
The hosts also have most of their foreign recruits back in the hut after returning home in the wake of the Indo-Pak military face-off.
The likes of Phil Salt, Lungi Ngidi, Tim David, Liam Livingstone and Romario Shepherd are available for this match and beyond.
The jarring notes will be the injury-enforced absence of Devdutt Padikkal and pacer Josh Hazlewood.
RCB will also hope that Mayank Agarwal, who has replaced Padikkal in the line-up, will rise to the occasion.
Hazlewood has a shoulder injury and the franchise has not yet given clarity on his availability.
(With PTI Inputs)
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