Royal Challengers Bangalore are going to face Kolkata Knight Riders in their third match of the Indian Premier League at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday. RCB currently sits on top of the table after winning games against Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Meanwhile, KKR is currently sixth in the table after their humiliating loss against Mumbai Indians.  These teams have played 26 matches against each other in IPL, of which 14 have been won by KKR and RCB have won 12 games. These two sides have a rivalry as RCB registered its lowest total of 49 runs against KKR.
KKR will need to bring out their A-game against RCB as Virat Kohli’s men are firing in all the departments. The addition of Glenn Maxwell to the squad has paid off until now. He has justified his Rs 14.25 crore price tag with his performances in the first two games. He scored a fifty against Sunrisers Hyderabad, providing power-hitting and stability to the middle order.
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Team News
Both the teams have a fully fit squad available for selection. RCB is unlikely to tinker with the winning combination. Meanwhile, KKR doesn’t have to make changes in the starting XI even though they suffered defeat against Mumbai Indians.
Predicted Starting XI
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Andre Russell, Shakib Al Hasan, Pat Cummins, Harbhajan Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Shahbaz Ahmed, AB de Villiers (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Daniel Christian, Washington Sundar, Kyle Jamieson, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal.
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Key Battle to watch out for
Maxwell has had two great games with the bat. He has been using the right shots to score at a quick rate in IPL 2021. The Australian batsman becomes even more important on a slower pitch like the one in Chennai. Meanwhile, Andre Russell has shone with the ball for KKR in the first two games. He took a five-wicket haul in the death against Mumbai Indians. This matchup could have a big say on the outcome of the game.