Royal Challengers to retort against the Knight Riders
 
Centurion, May 12

Bangalore Royal Challengers would be looking to pound on a hapless Kolkata Knight Riders to return to form when they clash in an Indian Premier League match here Tuesday. The Royal Challengers are placed seventh in the points table and are left with four matches to book a semifinal berth. They have lost their last two matches to Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians and need to regroup quickly.

Anil Kumble's team would take heart from their previous win against Knight Riders that not only snapped their four-match losing streak, but brought them back in the tournament with three successive wins. Challengers, however, will have to sort out their batting problems which has been inconsistent. The batsmen have not fired collectively. In their last match against Mumbai Indians, the Challengers bowling attack managed to restrict the strong batting side to 157. The batting was again a letdown as they could reach only 141.

Ross Taylor was brought back to the side but it did not produce results. They have changed the opening combination many times in the tournament but none has clicked. In the last two games, Wassim Jaffer and Virat Kohli opened the batting with Jacques Kallis, but the combinations did not click. Kallis and Robin Uthappa produced a stunning performance in Challengers' first clash with Mumbai Indians, but since then have failed in two matches. "We lost too many wickets early and that is one area where we need to improve," Kumble said.

As for Knight Riders, they will be playing for pride after losing their eighth match. Nothing seems to be working for the Knight Riders and skipper Brendon McCullum is running out of options. They lost two wickets in the first over against Daredevils and could never recover from there.