Preview KKR vs RCB IPL 2021, Match 30, May 3rd, Narendra Modi Stadium. KKR vs RCB head to head player stats and records. Team news and match predictions for KKR vs RCB.
Key match stats KKR vs RCB
Venue Stats – Narendra Modi Stadium
- Average first innings: 160
- Average first innings winning score: 171
- Average powerplay score: 47
- All-time win % batting 1st vs batting 2nd: 47% / 47%
Find full venue stats and records here
Team form KKR vs RCB preview
- KKR – LWLLL
- RCB – LWLWW
- Recent meetings: IPL 2021, RCB won by 28 runs, IPL 2020, RCB won by 82 runs, RCB won by 8 wickets
KKR vs RCB preview
RCB have suffered a little wobble in form since going 4 matches unbeaten at the start of the tournament but at the half way point of IPL 2021, Virat Kohli’s team can still be pleased with their progress to date. However, the next 7 games will be crucial both in terms of pushing for a top 2 finish and the easier route to the final that provides, as well as to show that the Challengers squad haven’t peaked too early in this competition as we head towards the business end of proceedings.
As a bare minimum, RCB will want to beat the 4 teams that are currently outside the playoffs and who have all looked a little off the pace so far in IPL 2021, starting with KKR today. One thing in RCB’s favour is the fact that they’ve won the last 4 encounters with the Knight Riders and put in some really dominant performances during that period against the 2 time champions.
A brief assessment of KKR’s first half of the IPL would read, bright beginnings but cracks starting to widen as the tournament progresses. Since their convincing victory over SRH in the opening game, KKR have struggled to put in a performance of note with their only other win courtesy of an all too familiar PBKS batting collapse. With the likes of Mumbai Indians now starting to accelerate away and close the gap on the 3 early pace setters, the window of opportunity for any of the sides currently in the bottom 4 to make a late charge for the playoffs is closing fast. KKR will need to win a minimum 5 of the remaining 7 games to have any chance of getting to the knock out phase.
KKR vs RCB head to head stats
KKR bowling vs RCB batting
If you are KKR, you must be thinking about how you can get a left-arm spinner (preferably one who can bat) into your side following what has happened to RCB in the recent games against CSK and PBKS where Ravi Jadeja and Harpreet Brar did some serious damage to their much vaunted middle order. KKR do of course have Shakib Al Hassan on the bench who started off well this season before losing his place to Sunil Narine.
| Batsman | Average | Strike Rate |
| Virat Kohli | 56.25 | 115.98 |
| Glen Maxwell | 24.11 | 148.63 |
| AB de Villiers | 40.20 | 127.25 |
Before getting too excited about the prospect of that match-up, it’s also worth remembering that Shakib was taken for 24 runs off the 2 overs he bowled in the reverse fixture early in the season with AB de Villiers, a man with a very good record overall against left-arm spin, dealing out some punishment.
Perhaps the biggest issue for RCB this year and one we hinted at during our preview of the season, is the lack of a genuine number 3. Kohli’s move to opener hasn’t really born any fruit yet and neither AB or Glenn Maxwell seems to be keen on moving up. The likes of Washington Sundar, Rajat Patidar and Shahbaz Ahmed have all been given a go but to date all 3 have looked out of their depth. We’ve heard for a while the idea that Sundar could be deployed as a pinch hitter but his stats in IPL 2021 so far suggest otherwise and he currently has the highest dot ball % of the tournament.
KKR’s main weapon in the powerplay this season has been the spin of Varun Chakravarthy who has 4 wickets in the opening 6 overs so far including that of Virat Kohli the last time these 2 teams met. If you were to pick a weakness for the India legend in the white ball format it would be against wrist spin and so I would expect that KKR will be keen to get Chakravarthy innvolved very early in this match.
One of KKR’s major weaknesses this year has been in finishing innings out with their bowlers collectively going at over 10 and a half an over at the death. We saw in their previous match that even with the likes of AB and Maxwell failing that this RCB batting line-up still packs a punch when Kyle Jamieson and Harshal Patel come out and gave it some long handle treatment. KKR will need to improve in that department to limit RCB in this fixture.
RCB bowling vs KKR batting
It’s been a tale of familiar problems at the top of the order for KKR in IPL 2021 and as we can see from the table above both Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana are eating up far too many dot balls in the powerplay. What’s worse is that at least as far as the last few games are concerned, neither man is then going on to make a significant score, instead heaping pressure on the middle order to up the ante from the start. They come up against the likes of Siraj, Jamieson and Sams in this game all of whom and been performing and all of whom present slightly different problems for the batting team.
RCB’s death bowling started off as a real strong suit but in recent matches has become a concern. Harshal Patel still holds the purple cap in 2021 but has gone for some big and ultimately match altering runs at the end of innings recently and it seemed like a very poor decision from Kohli to not bowl out Mohammed Siraj in the game against PBKS. Despite not having picked up the wickets of Harshal Patel, Siraj has been very impressive in restricting the scoring in the death.
Of course if RCB get it wrong again in this match then KKR certainly have the players to cash in! Dre Russell has already shown some big hitting this season and KKR will certainly need him to do that 3 or 4 more times if they are to have any hope of a play-off finish. The big Jamaican’s head to head record against the struggling Chahal is also very impressive so perhaps KKR will be tempted to bring him in a little earlier than they have in previous games.
All IPL player head to head records can be found here
