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The Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi will host the 31st match of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Monday (September 20).
The Knight Riders are placed at second last spot in the points table after winning only two games out of their total seven matches so far. The Eoin Morgan-led side will be looking for a win desperately as they have lost three out of their last four games.
KKR would be looking for some changes in their top order since opening pair of Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana couldn’t add much run in the first phase of IPL 2021 in India. The Knight Riders might send Sunil Narine as an opener to solve this problem and add Lockie Ferguson in the final XI to strengthen their pace bowling attack.
On the other hand, RCB have so far performed outstandingly well, and are pretty close to book a place in the playoffs with five wins out of seven matches. The only area of concern for the Virat Kohli-led side is their net run rate (NRR). Despite being placed at the third spot in the standings, RCB have an NRR of -0.171.
Head-to-Head record
Played: 27 | Kolkata Knight Riders: 14 | Royal Challengers Bangalore: 13 | No Result: 0
Pitch report:
The tracks at Abu Dhabi assisted both the pacers and spinners in the 13th season, and that’s the reason why fans missed out on seeing some high scoring contests at this venue. KKR will feel more at home here with five of their seven wins coming at the ground last season. However, they were also kept to just 84/8 by RCB at the same venue.
Probable XIs:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Sunil Narine, Eoin Morgan (c), Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Lockie Ferguson, Shivam Mavi/Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers (wk), Shahbaz Ahmed/Mohammed Azharuddeen, Wanindu Hasaranga, Kyle Jamieson, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal
Match Predictions:
Case 1:
- KKR win the toss and bat first
- Powerplay score: 35-40
- KKR total: 140-155
Case 2:
- RCB win the toss and bat first
- Powerplay score: 40-45
- RCB total: 145-160
Team batting first to win the contest.
