Royal Challengers Bangalore is the only team to have won both their matches while Kolkata Knight Riders suffered heartbreak against Mumbai Indians.
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When one looks at the current standings of the 2021 Indian Premier League, there is one team that is an anomaly. Every side has played two games but only one has won both. Royal Challengers Bangalore started their IPL 2021 campaign with a narrow two-wicket win against Mumbai Indians and a six-run victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad. With two close wins, Royal Challengers Bangalore seem to be building a solid mentality to combat pressure situations.
For the Kolkata Knight Riders, they started strongly against Sunrisers Hyderabad. But, their nightmare was prolonged against Mumbai Indians. They won the first game by 10 runs. Against Mumbai Indians, they squandered an advantage where they needed 31 off 30 balls to lose by 10 runs. Kolkata Knight Riders have some solid players but Royal Challengers Bangalore are having depth.
Heading into the first double header of IPL 2021, Royal Challengers Bangalore are favorites to win the clash. But, Kolkata Knight Riders will be determined to put the heartbreak of the loss against Mumbai Indians behind. Both sides will also be aware of the challenge of having to play in the death in Chennai. Batting first or batting second, death overs batting is a tricky thing in Chepauk.The powerplay will now assume even greater importance. KKR showed it in the game against Sunrisers. Despite the late overs collapse, KKR had laid a solid base in the powerplay that won them the game.
With momentum firmly with Royal Challengers Bangalore, they may not want to make much changes in the side. On the other hand, Kolkata Knight Riders might be tempted to bolster the batting. But, it was a sheer case of pressure and misjudgment that saw them collapse against Mumbai Indians.
In both teams, there are players who have made a mark in short bursts. Andre Russell took five wickets in two overs against Mumbai Indians. Shahbaz Ahmed took three wickets in the same number of overs which hurt Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli(c), Devdutt Padikkal, Shahbaz Ahmed, Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers(w), Washington Sundar, Daniel Christian, Kyle Jamieson, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal
Kolkata Knight Riders: Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan(c), Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik(w), Shakib Al Hasan, Pat Cummins, Harbhajan Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy
Match No.10: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders
Venue: MA Chidambaram stadium, Chennai
Time: 3:30 PM IST
Since this will be the first day game in Chepauk, the pitch will be dry as well as slow. The sluggishness of the wicket might see a low-scoring encounter. The weather will be hot with 34 degrees the maximum. The humidity will be an uncomfortable 65 percent.
Kolkata Knight Riders have a 14-12 head-to-head advantage against Royal Challengers Bangalore. In IPL 2020, Royal Challengers Bangalore registered an 82-run win that saw an AB de Villiers masterclass. In the other encounter, they won by eight wickets after Mohammed Siraj bowled two maidens and restricted them to 84/8.
