In the 36th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata tomorrow, i.e., Sunday, April 21 at 3:30 PM IST.
KKR are presently second in the points standings, having won four of their first six games this season. Despite a slip-up in its last game against Rajasthan Royals (RR) by two wickets, the unit will not dwell on the defeat to the table-toppers and will instead prepare for its battle against the bottom team of the table. Sunil Narine smashed an incredible century and became the only player to hammer a ton and take five wickets in the IPL. Despite his reputation as a pinch hitter, Narine has recently taken his time settling in and hopes to increase his strike rate steadily. Moreover, Phillip Salt has been an excellent partner to have as he begins blazing from ball one. Angkrish Raghuvanshi has been impressive as well, while the likes of Shreyas Iyer, Andre Russell, and Rinku Singh have been explosive towards the end of the innings. However, the bowlers need to buckle up as Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, and others have not been up to the mark.
The RCB inning, with the willow, begins brightly, with both openers Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis putting up superb batting efforts, but after that, the team totally derails from the contest. RCB scored 262 runs in their last encounter against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), owing largely to Dinesh Karthik‘s stunning innings of 83 off 35 balls. Rajat Patidar, Saurav Chauhan, Will Jacks, and Mahipal Lomror have been devoid of value, while even with the ball, Reece Topley, Vijaykumar Vyshak, and others have conceded far too many runs. Lockie Ferguson has been brilliant, but he also gave away more than 50 runs in the last match. The side has to completely overturn its faith to make it to playoffs, which now looks certainly impossible.
Head-to-Head:
KKR have an enormous advantage in head-to-head competition against RCB. The Knights have won 19 of the 33 encounters between the two teams, while RCB have prevailed in 14 games.
Where-to-Watch:
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