IPL 2021: KKR vs RCB- Match Preview

IPL 2021: KKR vs RCB- Match Preview. The 31^st match of IPL 2021 will have Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday. This will be the second time when both these two teams will square up against each other in IPL 2021.

Royal Challengers Bangalore picked up a comfortable 38-run win against KKR when the last time these two teams met against each other. AB de Villiers (76 off 34) and Glenn Maxwell (78 off 49) made significant contributions with the bat to help RCB notch a massive 204-run total in the first innings. KKR, in reply, were restricted to 166 runs in the second innings.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)

Royal Challengers Bangalore started their IPL 2021 campaign on an outstanding note as they didn’t lose a single game in their first four matches. Chennai Super Kings eventually broke their winning streak after registering a 69-wicket victory against them. At the end of the first leg of the tournament, Royal Challengers Bangalore find themselves at third position with 5 wins in 7 matches.

They would be pretty happy with the way things have gone for them thus far. Their overseas batsmen, Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers have been the two biggest reasons for their good run this season.

Glenn Maxwell made sure RCB score runs at a healthy run-rate in the middle overs, while AB de Villiers gave them the impetus needed in the death overs. At MA Chidambaram Stadium where batsmen struggled to score due to the slow nature of the pitch, AB de Villiers won the team singlehandedly with the bat. Glenn Maxwell is currently their highest run-scorer this season with 223 runs in 7 matches at 37.17.

They found another star in Harshal Patel with the ball, this season. The Indian seamer was simply outstanding for the franchise. He is currently the leading wicket-taker this season, having picked 17 wickets in 7 matches at an average of 15.12.

The only concern they have right now is Virat Kohli’s form at the top of the order. The Indian skipper opened the batting for RCB in IPL 2021 but failed to make an impact. He struggled to give the team solid starts at the top of the order. With the action moving to UAE, it will be interesting to see if he can make a good comeback.

Full Squad:

Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Yuzvendra Chahal, Devdutt Padikkal, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pavan Deshpande, Glenn Maxwell, Sachin Baby, Rajat Patidar, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Kyle Jamieson, Dan Christian, Suyesh Prabhudessai, KS Bharat, Tim David, Dushmantha Chameera, Wanindu Hasarangal, Akash Deep, George Garton.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

Facing them are Kolkata Knight Riders, who have endured a torrid run in IPL 2021. In 7 matches, KKR have only managed to win 2 games and are sitting second from the bottom on the points table. The batting unit hasn’t encouraged any optimism with the bat. Consistent failure from the top three comprising Gill, Rana and Tripathi hasn’t helped the team’s cause. Prominent names in the middle orders namely Dinesh Karthik, Eoin Morgan and Andre Russell haven’t taken the world by storm either.

Ahead of the second leg of IPL 2021, Pat Cummins has made himself unavailable which only add one more problem to their list of plenty. For KKR to make it into the playoffs, every match is a must-win from here. We will have to just wait and see how many wins they can register in the remaining 7 games.

Full Squad: