IPL Resumes With The RCB vs KKR Face-Off; Virat Kohli's Outing In Focus

Brought to a halt by the recent India-Pakistan border tensions, the IPL will resume on Saturday with Royal Challengers Bengaluru taking on Kolkata Knight Riders in a high-stakes contest where 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