IPL 2021 Eliminator: RCB Vs KKR In First Eliminator Of IPL At Sharjah Cricket Stadium; Match Prediction And Head-To-Head Stats

Highlights:

• Kolkata Knight Riders to face Royals Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2021’s first eliminator
• Winner of today’s match will face DC on 13^th October
• In 28 matches played between KKR and RCB, KKR defeated RCB on 15 occasions

Indian Premier League 2021 is coming to an end and today its first eliminator match will be played between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. The match will begin at 7:30 PM (IST).

RCB finished 3^rd on the IPL 2021 points table while KKR finished 4^th. Being the 1^st eliminator, it comes with a lot of pressure for both teams as it is a do or die match between the two heavyweights. Lose of today’s match will see their dreams of winning the IPL trophy crumble down. 

In IPL 2021, both RCB and KKR bested some of the best teams in the tournament. They also defeated the defending champion Mumbai Indians only to make sure they do not qualify to this year’s playoffs.

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Talking about RCB and KKR, in IPL they both have faced each other 28 times out of which 15 times KKR were victorious.

RCB Vs KKR Head To Head Stats

This would be the third time RCB and KKR will play against each other in IPL 2021, in the first 2 matches, there’s nothing to differentiate between the two as they both won 1 game each.

The last time these two teams met each other was on 20^th September what was the 31^st match of IPL 2021. It won’t be wrong to say that KKR thrashed the Bangalore side to dust in the match.

KKR bowled the entire RCB line up in just 19 overs and restricted them to a mere 92 runs. Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy and Lockie Ferguson. Andre Russell took 3 wickets in his 3 overs and gave away just 9 runs.

Varun Chakravarthy, too, took 3 wickets and gave up 13 runs in just 4 overs. Lockie managed to take 2 wickets in his 4 spells giving away just 24 runs.

KKR came to pitch with just 1 motive, make sure their NRR goes high enough to secure them a place in the playoffs. The openers showed their intent right from the beginning, with Shubman Gill scoring 48 from 34 balls smashing 6 boundaries and 1 maximum.

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Venkatesh Iyer, too, was showing his prowess with the bat, scoring an unbeaten 41 from 27 balls smashing 1 maximum and 7 boundaries.

KKR won the match with 10 overs and 9 wickets remaining.

RCB Vs KKR Last 5 Encounters

20^th September 2021: Kolkata Knight Riders won by 9 wickets

18^th April 2021: Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 38 runs

21^st October 2021: Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 8 wickets

12^th October 2020: Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 82 runs

19^th April 2019: Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 10 runs

Additional Stats Of RCB & KKR

RCB highest score against KKR: 213

KKR highest score against RCB: 222

Highest Individual Score against KKR: 102* (Chris Gayle)

Highest Individual Score against RCB: 158* (Brendon McCullum)

Most wickets for RCB against KKR: 17 (Vinay Kumar)

Most wickets for KKR against RCB:  16 (Sunil Narine)

Lowest RCB score against KKR: 49

Lowest KKR score against RCB: 84

Also Read: 15 Batsmen With Most Sixes In IPL

Match Prediction:

Royal Challengers Bangalore had one of their best seasons of IPL while Kolkata Knight Riders managed to sneak into the playoffs of IPL 2021 on the back of giving RCB a humiliating defeat in their last game.

It was helped in the last match of league games for KKR when they defeated Rajasthan Royals by 86 runs.

However, given how well RCB have fared against KKR in their last 5 matches, having won 4 out of 5 matches between the two teams, and RCB’s domination in IPL 2021 have been commendable.

We believe, it will be a close match leaving fans on the edge of their seats until the last ball, with RCB managing to win the match and making it to the finals for the 4^th time.