Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will be eying their fifth win when they square off in the 28th Match of the Dream11 Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 in Sharjah on Monday.

Virat Kohli played the inning of the tournament so far on a slow and difficult to bat on pitch. He made 90 not out and was single-handedly responsible for winning RCB the match against CSK. In fact, RCB scored 74 in its last five overs without losing a wicket, the bulk of those runs being scored by Virat Kohli.

In essence, Kohli is not the typical T20 player that teams look for. He is incredibly consistent but he is not someone who is going to smash sixes from the start on most occasions. That is where Sharjah is going to be another unique challenge for him.

RCB has made a lot of changes to its team but find itself too dependent on Virat and AB de Villiers once more. Everything seems to revolve around the both of them. Devdutt Padikkal is going to be targeted with some spin from the KKR camp, as that seems to be a clear weakness that is emerging. Aaron Finch and AB de Villiers could be very dangerous on the small ground of Sharjah even though the pitch there was a bit on the slower side.

This is the first match that RCB is going to be playing at Sharjah and they would be happy to have a strong batting at their disposal. The challenge is going to be for the bowlers to adapt against an equally strong batting lineup. With Chris Morris, Isuru Udana, and Yuzvendra Chahal in the lineup, it really seems like RCB has found a solution to its bowling woes.

Dinesh Karthiuk played a spectacular inning in the previous match to lead his side to a competitive total against KXIP. If it were not for his blast at the end, KKR would not have come close to winning the match. As it turned out, the victory still needed a special kind of collapse from KXIP but that is a conversation for another time.

KKR is going to be tested in this match against RCB for sure. Shubman Gill is a traditional player and still has to showcase the next gear in his cricket while Rahul Tripathi was made to look very average against sharp pace in the previous match. The likes of Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, and Dinesh Karthik all now have one inning of note but nothing much else to show in IPL 2020. The fact that Andre Russell has not been getting the runs so far only adds to the pressure on everyone else around him. The KKR batting is a little frail and we can see it coming under pressure from the RCB bowlers.

KKr also has some issues to sort out with its bowling. Andre Russell was injured in the previous match and did not bowl. He may be fine to play against RCB but may not bowl. Sunil Narine has been called out for an illegal action and may not bowl at all. This leaves KKR definitely short of some options and a lot of work need to be done by the young Indian bowlers like Prasidh Krishna, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, and Varun Chakravarthy.

KKR seems to be coming into this game with a lot more problems in its side and that is something that you must consider while placing your bets.

Weather Forecast
The weather on the match day is predicted to remain around 30 to 35 degree celsius. As the day, progresses, the temperature might give slight relief to the players who are in for an evening start with the match. Humidity will be around 35-45% and ther's no chance of rain.

Pitch Report
While Sharjah will mostly continue to be a high-scoring venue, the pitch has slowed down a bit, and it will allow the bowlers to come into the game. The spinners will be the key to this venue, with the slower balls and other variations also working well.

Toss Prediction
the team winning the toss is going to want to bat first. The short boundaries make defending a total difficult but the previous match played here was won by the team batting first. It was also a match where the pitch slowed up considerably and made batting second difficult.

Stats and Facts
Head to head: Matches Played: 24
Kolkata Knight Riderss: 14
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 10

Approaching Milestones:
Virat Kohli needs 3 sixes and 7 fours respectively to complete 200 sixes and 500 fours in IPL.
AB de Villiers requires 3 catches to complete 100 IPL catches.
Eoin Morgan is 5 sixes away from completing 50 IPL sixes.
Sunil Narine needs 3 sixes to complete 50 IPL sixes.

Likely XIs:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Aaron Finch, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli (capt), AB de Villiers (wk), Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Chris Morris, Isuru Udana, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal

Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik (capt, wk), Andre Russell/Tom Banton, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Kamlesh Nagarkoti/Shivam Mavi, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy

Players to Watch Out For:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Yuzvendra Chahal
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine

Match Odds:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1.8
Kolkata Knight Riders: 2.00

SantaBanta's Winner Prediction: Royal Challengers Bangalore

IPL 2020 Winner Live Odds
Mumbai Indians - 2.875
Delhi Capitals - 4.5br> Royal Challengers Bangalore - 5
Kolkata Knight Riders - 6
Chennai Super Kings - 15
Sunrisers Hyderabad - 15
Rajasthan Royals - 17
Kings XI Punjab - 41

Match Venue: Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah
Time: 7.30 PM IST
TV: Star Sports Network
Live Streaming: Disney+ Hotstar VIP