Tom Banton
Looking at the scoring patter in the last few Sharjah games this season, Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli has opted to bat first at the high-scoring Sharjah against Kolkata Knight Riders. Both sides have made just one change to their side. While KKR have picked an extra batting option, RCB have gone with an extra bowling option.
"We will bat first. A high scoring ground, the pitch might become slower and slower - scores are coming down in the last couple of games. There's no grass on the surface, so it can get scuffed up. We're confident in our bowling, it's important to execute our plans, Chris Morris was a huge plus. We have spoken about partnerships, a good start will help us more. One change - Siraj comes in for Mann, gives us an extra bowling option on a small ground like this," said Kohli.
Dinesh Karthik remained unfazed over the fate in the toss.
"I'm happy to have lost the toss, might have batted first as well. It's important that the bowlers believe in themselves, like it happened in the KXIP match where they dominated us for almost 39 overs. Banton is a special player, he's a superstar in the making, he replaces Sunil Narine," said Karthik.
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Rahul Tripathi, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik(w/c), Tom Banton, Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy
Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI): Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli(c), AB de Villiers(w), Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Isuru Udana, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal
