IPL 2021, Match 10, April 18th RCB vs KKR, MA Chidambaram Stadium. Preview RCB vs KKR in IPL 2021, head to head player stats, records of both Royal Challenger Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders at this venue plus the best Dream11 predictions RCB vs KKR.
Key match stats RCB vs KKR preview
Venue
- Average first innings score at the MA Chidambaram : 163
- Average first innings winning score at MA Chidambaram: 173
- Average powerplay score at MA Chidambaram: 46
- All-time win % batting 1st vs batting 2nd: 61% / 38%
Find full venue stats and records here
Team form RCB vs KKR preview
- RCB – WW
- KKR – LW
- Previous meetings: IPL 2020, RCB won by 82 runs and RCB won by 8 wickets
IPL 2021 RCB vs KKR preview
RCB come in this match vs KKR full of confidence and sitting astride the top of the IPL table as the only side with a 100% record after 2 games. The big plus for Kohli and his men is that in both those games they’ve had to come back from difficult match situations to win which is precisely the kind of fighting quality that RCB will need to maintain if they are to finally win an IPL title in 2021.
They come up against a KKR side who for all the world looked as though they too would win their first 2 matches of IPL 2021 before they were Shanghaied by the Mumbai Indians in their last outing. Still this Kolkata side looks far more organised and match aware this year than at any stage in recent IPL seasons and Eoin Morgan has a bowling attack at his finger tips that gives him plenty of options regardless of the opposition or conditions.
In previewing RCB vs KKR, the Knight Riders will want to banish the memories of their last match against the Challengers which resulted in an 8 wicket defeat. At one point, KKR were reduced to 17 for 4 , the 5th lowest powerplay score in IPL history! Indeed, KKR were on the receiving end of a couple of thrashing in last year’s IPL at the hands of RCB but with a few of their big names such as Russell and Cummins beginning to show form, there is hope for a much competitive fixture this time around.
Preview RCB vs KKR head to head player stats
RCB bowling vs KKR batting
The architect of RCB’s 8 wicket victory vs KKR last season was Mohammed Siraj who took 3 wickets for the cost of just 8 runs. Siraj was brilliant again in RCB’s last match against SRH causing their top order problems with pace and movement and on a pitch where run scoring in the first half of the innings is crucial then the fact that RCB’s main powerplay bowler leads the way with the most dot balls of IPL 2021 (26) is a real bonus for them.
While still in its infancy, this match also sees the purple cap wearer go head to head with the orange cap wearer. Both Nitish Rana and Harshal Patel have been key players for their franchises in the opening 2 games but it is the RCB man who has the better historical record against KKR’s opener.
The impressive thing about RCB’s bowling line-up in IPL 2021 has been the variety that they have which creates the opportunity for favourable match-ups. We saw in their previous match that Shabaz Ahmed was held back until after David Warner was out and then played a key role in turning the game against a right-hand dominated middle order. With KKR having 3 left-handers in their top 5 it might well be the turn of Washington Sundar in this game and we can see from his head to head record against KKR’s left-handers that it’s a job that he’s performed well in the past (he’s never bowled against Shakib).
With Shakib Al Hassan also in their side, it wouldn’t surprise me if KKR kept their batting line-up very flexible during the course of their innings to prevent RCB getting the ideal match-up of Ahmed vs right handers or Washington Sundar vs left-handers.
KKR bowling vs RCB batting
The way that Eoin Morgan has juggled his bowlers in the first 2 matches of IPL 2021 has been fascinating and I’m looking forward to seeing what he has in store for this RCB batting line-up in this match. He started the last game by bowling 5 straight overs of spin in the powerplay. No side has ever bowled 6 overs of spin in the powerplay during an IPL match so I was some what disappointed not to see a new record!
Certainly if we are looking at the head to head record of Virat Kohli vs the KKR bowling attack then it would seem as though the RCB captain has the better of their seamers at the moment as demonstrated by the fact that only Andre Russell has managed to dismiss him in previous IPL meetings and we’re unlikely to see the big West Indian bowl until the later stages.
As such, I’d anticipate seeing KKR opening with Harbhajan again firstly to entice Kohli into trying to play a forecful shot early on (we know he’d prefer to have 10-15 balls before doing that) and secondly because his opening partner Devdutt Padikkal has struggled against right-arm finger spin in the past
A big plus for KKR this season has been the form of Pat Cummins whose role at least at this venue has changed from that of powerplay spearhead to middle overs enforcer. While he’s only picked up 3 wickets in the opening couple of games, they have all been big scalps in the form of Bairstow, Rohit and Ishan Kishan with the first 2 at least well set and looking to go big at the death. On a pitch where runs in the 2nd half of the innings have been hard to come by, his match up against the likes of de Villiers and Maxwell during the middle overs could be crucial in limiting RCB’s scoring.
| Phase | Overs | Economy | Wickets |
| Powerplay | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Middle Overs | 4 | 6.3 | 2 |
| Death Overs | 2 | 10.5 | 1 |
Of course, looking back at the first 4 games in Chennai it seems that one of the most important factors will be the toss. RCB are the only side to win here while chasing and that was via the last ball. With a historical win % of over 60 for the side that bats first it seems inevitable that whoever calls correctly will have a major advantage in this match. Do we need to mention Kohli’s head to head record vs Morgan at the toss? It’s not great…
All the IPL player head to head stats can be found here
