Match 58 of the 2025 Indian Premier League season brings us to an encounter between the Royal Challengers Bengaluru and the Kolkata Knight Riders at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on May 17.
For the match, here are our preview and predictions.
The Royal Challengers are currently top of the table, all but guaranteed a place in the playoffs. Against a Knight Riders side with very slim chance of making the playoffs, RCB will need to be careful and try to secure their own playoff berth. During the playoffs, they’re set to lose a host of important players in Josh Hazlewood, Jacob Bethell, Lungi Ndidi, and Romario Shepherd, who’ll be off to international duty.
In their last encounter, RCB played against the Chennai Super Kings. Batting first, they posted a massive total of 213/5, with openers Bethell (55 off 33) and Virat Kohli (62 off 33) giving them a superb start. However, once they departed, the RCB middle order collapsed. At one point, it looked like they wouldn’t get past 170, but Shepherd came in and unleashed a storm, scoring 53* off 14 to take RCB to 213.
In response, opener Ayush Mhatre scored an unbelievable knock of 94 off 48, bringing CSK into the chase, but he was supported only by Ravindra Jadeja (77* off 45) at the other end. With not enough contributions from the other batters, CSK fell short by just two runs. For RCB, Krunal Pandya bowled a crucial spell of 1/24, while Yash Dayal held his nerve in the last over.
The Knight Riders, on the other hand, had managed to turn their form around in recent games, keeping their slim hopes of a playoff spot alive. In their last game, which was also against CSK, they were expected to come out on top. That did not turn out to be the case, however, as the Super Kings chased down the target put in front of them to put the reigning champions all but out of playoff contention.
Batting first, KKR posted a par total of 179/6, with captain Ajinkya Rahane (48 off 33), Manish Pandey (36* off 26) and Andre Russell (38 off 21) propelling them to a fighting total. Noor Ahmad continued his great form for CSK with figures of 4/31 in his four overs, ensuring KKR didn’t reach a mammoth total.
In response, the CSK batters had a dismal start as both their openers got out on nought. However, debutant Urvil Patel (31 off 11) shifted the momentum in their favour before Dewald Brevis (52 off 25) and Shivam Dube (45 off 40) took them close. Captain MS Dhoni then hit a few lusty blows to take them home, leaving KKR reliant on results elsewhere to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Coming back to this game, while KKR will want to get back to winning ways and keep themselves in contention for a playoff spot, we back RCB to secure a playoff spot with a win here and knock the defending champions out.
Fantasy XI: Jacob Bethell, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Sunil Narine, Rajat Patidar (c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Varun Chakaravarthy
Venue: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
Winners Prediction: Royal Challengers Bengaluru
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