Bruised and battered after five successive losses, and six overall in their seven games so far, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will hope for a turnaround in fortunes midway into the IPL 2024 when they take on a dominant Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.

Languishing at the bottom of the IPL points tally, the Faf du Plessis-led side can’t afford any more hiccups, and will now have the daunting task of winning all their remaining seven games to keep their playoff prospects alive.

The burden of turnaround will mainly be on the bowling unit that has failed not just individually but also collectively throughout the season so far, and the batting has also majorly revolved around Orange Cap holder Virat Kohli (361 runs), du Plessis and Dinesh Karthik.

“From a bowling perspective, we don’t have as many weapons. So, unfortunately, it comes down to the batters to make sure that we use our form and our confidence. The scores that we put on the board are probably going to be the only way we are going to get into the competition,” du Plessis had admitted earlier.

What’s more hurting for the RCB camp is that they will head to Sunday’s game after conceding the IPL’s record total of 287/3 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their last match. RCB has tried almost all their bowlers in their squad but had very little luck.

And thus, it won’t be a bad idea to get back to Alzarri Joseph, their most expensive (Rs 11.5 crore) buy this season, to go alongside Mohammed Siraj, who was not picked against SRH. Joseph has bagged a solitary wicket in three appearances for RCB while also getting hammered at 11.89 runs per over. Reece Topley, Lockie Ferguson, Yash Dayal, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep have all been at the receiving end of the opposition batters, and thus they could go back to their original plan with their best bets.

Glenn Maxwell’s part-time spin gave them little respite but the star Australian all-rounder, who pulled out of the game against SRH citing “mental fatigue”, is also battling a hip strain that may keep him out of action for some more time.

RCB’s batting has mostly been about their opening combo of Kohli and du Plessis, and Karthik, lower down the order. The middle order, comprising the likes of Rajat Patidar, Cameron Green and Maxwell has failed to deliver, leaving the finishing job to Karthik, who has been phenomenal in his final IPL season.

The seasoned wicketkeeper-batter has amassed 226 runs at a strike-rate of over 205 and is fresh after slamming a belligerent 35-ball 83 that almost got RCB over the line against SRH, before they fell short by 25 runs. The trio will be expected to once again raise the tempo for the faltering side at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.

On the other hand, the Kolkata Knight Riders will be looking to get back to winning ways after losing the last-ball thriller to table toppers Rajasthan Royals in their previous home game. For that, KKR will be once again counting on the all-round abilities of West Indies star Sunil Narine, whose maiden T20 century against RR eventually came in a losing cause.

However, Narine is KKR’s leading run-getter this season with 276 runs, and the management will hope that the left-hander continues his assault at the top of the order, along with Phil Salt, who has struck at a rate of 151-plus. The pair’s splendid form means that the likes of Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer and Andre Russell have got limited opportunities.

Narine will also be expected to spearhead KKR’s bowling unit, along side the likes of Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, and Venkatesh Iyer.