IPL 2021 Match 10 – Royal Challengers Bangalore v Kolkata Knight Riders Betting Preview

IPL 2021: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Kolkata Knight Riders – Preview, Prediction, Probable Playing XIs and Value Bets

Match Details
Royal Challengers Bangalore v Kolkata Knight Riders
M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Sunday, April 18th, 2021
12:00 SA Time

Betting Preview

The tenth match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) sees Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) taking on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday afternoon. The two teams have fought each other on 26 occasions with KKR having a slight edge with 14 victories. However, RCB defeated KKR in both the matches last year and are currently table toppers. They will head into the match as the favourites but KKR won’t back down easily.

Royal Challengers Bangalore have surprised everyone and have bagged 4 points in two matches. It’s the first time since 2014 that they have won their first two games of a season. The biggest plus point for RCB is Glenn Maxwell, who has played two impactful knocks so far. Maxwell powered RCB to a par total against SRH with an extraordinary knock of 59 off 41 on a difficult wicket, where everyone else apart from Warner struggled to score. Mohammed Siraj’s development has been impressive as well as Harshal Patel’s death overs bowling. Shahbaz Ahmed’s all-round skillset is another positive thing for RCB.

Kolkata Knight Riders have looked pretty decent this season barring their 5 overs of choking against Mumbai Indians, where they failed to score 31 off the last 5 overs. The way Dinesh Karthik and Andre Russell looked helpless in those overs, could worry KKR. But apart from that, they were solid in both the departments in the first two matches. Eoin Morgan-led side was absolutely spot on with their planning and bowling changes against MI. Pat Cummins has done his new role of enforcer in the middle overs to good effect. Andre Russell’s death overs bowling is a huge plus for KKR. Dre Russ went on to pick a 5fer in 2 overs against MI.

Injury and Availability News

RCB’s Adam Zampa and Finn Allen are available for selection after completing mandatory quarantine. All of KKR’s players are available for selection.

Probable Playing XI

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Washington Sundar, Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers (wk), Dan Christian, Shahbaz Ahmed, Kyle Jamieson, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal

Kolkata Knight Riders

Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan (c), Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Pat Cummins, Shakib Al Hassan, Harbhajan Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy

Pitch and Conditions

The M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai has generally been a great friend of spinners. The Chepauk offers slow low-scoring surfaces. This season, the pitches have become extremely hard to score as the innings progresses. The average first innings score at this venue in IPL 2021 is 161.

Key Players to Watch Out For

Shahbaz Ahmed: The Bengal all-rounder had a dream match against Sunrisers Hyderabad as he ran through their middle order with 3 wickets for just 7 runs in 2 overs. Ahmed played a major role in RCB’s thrilling victory. The slow left-arm orthodox all-rounder offers immense value to the side at the Chepauk. With RCB rightly using him as a spin pinch hitter, expect him to smash a few with the bat. Shahbaz Ahmed has 21 wickets to his name at an impressive economy of 6.84.

AB de Villiers: The South African maestro has given RCB everything he has to offer. AB de Villiers has pulled RCB out of trouble on many occasions. de Villiers has already won them a match from a tricky situation against Mumbai Indians. At 37 years of age, ABD casually took down the best death overs bowler in the game. He will have to do the same once again, against the likes of Cummins, Prasidh and Russell. In IPL history, de Villiers has scored 1284 runs at a massive strike rate of 232.6.

Nitish Rana: The KKR batsman has enjoyed a resurgence since he was pushed up to open the innings. Nitish Rana has scored 373 as an opener in the IPL at an average of 46.6 and a strike rate of 140.2. In the two matches so far in IPL 2021, Rana has smashed 80 & 57 respectively. Rana’s crazy intent makes him a very dangerous batsman to bowl at in the powerplay. The southpaw will have to produce another quality knock at the top of the order for KKR.

Dinesh Karthik: The wicket-keeper batsman is one of the best T20 finishers in the world but his performance in the last game against MI might hurt his reputation. Karthik, batting alongside Andre Russell, failed to score 31 runs in the last 5 overs. After Russell got out, Karthik was stranded at the non-striker end. Dinesh Karthik has scored 950 runs in the 17-20 overs phase at a strike rate of 181 in his IPL career.

What Bets To Take

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Virat Kohli to be RCB’s top batsman at 2.90.

Yuzvendra Chahal to be RCB’s top bowler at 3.25.

Kolkata Knight Riders

Shubman Gill to be KKR’s top batsman at 3.50.

Lockie Ferguson to be KKR’s top bowler at 3.50.

Prediction: Royal Challengers Bangalore to win at 0.68.