Even a week ago, Royal Challengers Bangalore gave nightmares to all their opponents. But the lightning has struck them twice. Chennai Super Kings’ Ravindra Jadeja and Punjab Kings’ Harpreet Brar have tweaked their good times. As far as reality check is concerned, their chance of making it to the playoffs is sharp. Back to the present, Virat Kohli’s RCB will lock horns with Eoin Morgan’s Kolkata Knight Riders on May 3 at the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium in Ahmedabad in the 30th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.
Flaws are there everywhere in the KKR’s line-up. Their opener Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana are seldom standing for more than 25 runs. The fragile opening stand is pulling them back from their natural flow. The Purple Camp’s coach Brendon McCullum made it clear that they wanted more aggressive innings from the top of the order; hence, there might be a couple of changes in their line-up. Riders’ powerplay specialist, Rahul Tripathi, is yet to inject any supreme knock into their sluggish run rate. Morgan has racked up five fifties in 66 IPL innings at a strike rate of 125. The World Cup-winning captain may need a bit more effort from his team to win the games.
RCB have the super opening stand consisting of Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal, who smashed his maiden IPL ton a week ago. They are providing their team with envying starts. Unfortunately, RCB have succumbed to spin dominantly. AB de Villiers averages 15.33 against KKR’s veteran Sunil Narine. Hence, the strategy is simple, ace the spin. The side has the Purple Cap holder, Harshal Patel, who is destroying the opponents with his medium pace. He also made a batting cameo against Punjab Kings, where he hammered 31 from 13 balls. In that match, his teammates could not escape the web, which was spun by Brar.
IPL 2021: KKR vs RCB at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad from 7:30 PM IST
Match Prediction – Who will win the match?
Facing off Bangalore 28 times, Kolkata hold a 15-13 advantage. But this season, the Knight Riders have looked pale struggling to find the right combinations. On the other hand, RCB have had a blistering start to their campaign losing only two games so far.
Thus, RCB will be the favourites, but it’s a must-win game for KKR to keep their hopes in the IPL alive as they are languishing at the seventh spot with four points.
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