IPL 2026: Virat faces Narine challenge vs KKR as batting icon seeks big score after two ducks
May 13, 2026
Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], May 13 : Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) Virat Kohli, who has faced two back-to-back ducks this season, will be raring to get back to form against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), a franchise that brings him a serious challenge of facing legendary spinner Sunil Narine.
Virat's IPL 2026 run, which had been a fun ride for his fans with the batter showing hyper-aggressive intent in the powerplay, has faced a couple of bumps in the form of two back-to-back golden ducks. While the ever-improving strike rate numbers are proof of his evolution in T20 cricket, even after retiring from the format internationally, fans would undoubtedly want the IPL's leading run-getter to go back to scoring big and carefully.
The 37-year-old holds a fine record against three-time champions, having made 1,021 runs in 36 matches and 33 innings at an average of 39.26 and a strike rate of 132.94, with a century and seven fifties to his name. His past five innings against the Knights have seen him score three fifties, with scores of 21, 54, 83*, 18, 59*.
Narine, the third IPL bowler to reach the 200-wicket mark, will be an exciting match-up against Virat. Narine has got the better of Virat four times out of 21 innings. He has also managed to contain Virat's run flow, with the batter having scored 171 in 168 balls at a strike rate of just above 101, including 12 fours and two sixes and 57 dot balls.
So far, Virat has scored 379 runs in 11 matches at an average of 42.11 and a strike rate of 163.36, including three fifties. Narine has got 10 wickets in nine matches at an average of 22.80, but it is his economy rate of 6.51, which creates pressure on batters.
Squads:
Kolkata Knight Riders Squad: Ajinkya Rahane(c), Finn Allen, Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Kartik Tyagi, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ramandeep Singh, Tejasvi Dahiya, Navdeep Saini, Tim Seifert, Rachin Ravindra, Blessing Muzarabani, Matheesha Pathirana, Rahul Tripathi, Sarthak Ranjan, Prashant Solanki, Saurabh Dubey, Umran Malik, Daksh Kamra
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Squad: Jacob Bethell, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Krunal Pandya, Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Rasikh Salam Dar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma, Jordan Cox, Mangesh Yadav, Venkatesh Iyer, Jacob Duffy, Philip Salt, Nuwan Thushara, Vihaan Malhotra, Abhinandan Singh, Kanishk Chouhan, Satvik Deswal, Vicky Ostwal, Swapnil Singh.
