Find out team news, TV and streaming information, odds, weather forecasts and much, much more ahead of the 10th game of the new Indian Premier League season
Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Kolkata Knight Riders in the 10th match of the 2021 IPL.
The game is scheduled for 3.30pm IST (11am BST) on Sunday, April 18, 2021.
Chennai’s M.A. Chidambaram Stadium will stage the game.
RCB have the only 100 per cent record in the competition, backing up their opening round win over Mumbai Indians by overcoming Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Glenn Maxwell proved his worth with a punchy 59, a knock that proved to be crucial in a relatively low-scoring contest. It was then the turn of Shahbaz Ahmed to take centre stage with three wickets as Sunrisers were beaten by six runs.
It has already been a campaign of enormous highs and lows for KKR, who have pulled results out of the fire just when they looked to be heading in a different direction.
Victory over Sunrisers was followed by a chastening loss to MI when chasing just 153 to win. From 104 for 2, the middle-order failed to fire, scoring just 38 from the last 42 deliveries as Rahul Chahar and Krunal Pandya came to the fore.
Dafabet have RCB favourites to make it three wins from as many games, rating them at 8/11 to prevail. KKR are meanwhile 11/10 to get their second win of the competition.
Virat Kohli's men are evens to hit the most sixes during the contest but KKR are available at 23/20.
The teams can barely be separated in the four-hitting stakes either, with RCB 4/5 to score the most and KKR at 5/4.
Devdutt Padikkal was missing for the opening game against Mumbai Indians have joined up with his RCB teammates late after testing positive for Covid-19.
At the first time of asking he returned to the XI against Sunrisers, scoring just 11 opening alongside Kohli. How the 20-year-old goes throughout the rest of the competition will be interesting in light of his uncertain build-up, particularly given the faith his skipper has shown in him since last season's stellar showing when he was the team's top run-scorer.
Also searching for form is Shakib Al-Hasan, one of KKR's big pick-ups in the mini-auction. While the Bangladesh allrounder has collected a single wicket in each match he has failed twice with the bat.
Eoin Morgan has a dilemma over how to form his middle-order, perhaps the most stacked in the IPL and must ensure he gets the balance correct going forward. Bringing in Andre Russell - the T20 Player Index No.3 - as low as No.7 might need an adjustment if those ahead of him continue to fail to fire.
Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa and Daniel Sams are all available for RCB, giving Kohli plenty of options though it might be that he goes with the same XI in an effort to preserve the 100 per cent start to the competition.
KKR are probably only considering one alteration, with Kuldeep Yadav a possible replacement for Harbhajan Singh who has been used sparingly in the opening two matches.
The two teams have played each other 26 times.
KKR wins: 14
RCB wins: 12
For the first afternoon game of the competition, sunny and warm conditions are expected in Chennai with highs of 33 degrees Celcius.
No, this match will be played behind closed doors owing to the Covid-19 situation in India.
RCB have started in impressive fashion and will fancy them against an unpredictable KKR outfit, who are capable of equal measures of brilliance and ineptitude.
IPL TEAM GUIDES
Sky Sports have the rights in the United Kingdom.
You can aso stream the tournament using the Disney+ Hotstar digital platform, though the matches are only available for VIP or Premium subscribers.
Star Sports have the television rights in India.
Streaming service YuppTV have acquired digital streaming rights in a host of markets, including Australia, continental Europe, Malaysia, Southeast Asia with the exception of Singapore, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, the Maldives, Central Asia, and Central and South America.
In the USA, the games will be broadcast on Willow TV and the Willow TV website. Fox Sports have the broadcasting rights in Australia, while Supersport will televise the games in South Africa. In the Caribbean, Flow TV have the rights.
The following broadcasters owning the rights for their respective regions:
Bangladesh: Channel 9
Afghanistan: Lemar TV
Malaysia: Measat
MENA/UAE: BeIN Sport
Hong Kong: Now TV
Singapore: SingTel
New Zealand: Sky Sport
Papua New Guinea: EMTV
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Yuzvendra Chahal, Devdutt Padikkal, Harshal Patel, Daniel Sams, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Adam Zampa, Shahbaz Ahmed, Kane Richardson, Pavan Deshpande, Glenn Maxwell, Sachin Baby, Rajat Patidar, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Kyle Jamieson, Dan Christian, Suyesh Prabhudessai, K.S. Bharat, Finn Allen
Kolkata Knight Riders: Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Eoin Morgan, Pat Cummins, Rahul Tripathi, Varun Chakravarthy, Pawan Negi, Tim Seifert, Shakib al Hasan, Sheldon Jackson, Vaibhav Arora, Karun Nair, Harbhajan Singh, Ben Cutting, Venkatesh Iyer
RCB: Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Shahbaz Ahmed, Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers (wk), Washington Sundar, Daniel Christian, Kyle Jamieson, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal
KKR: Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan (c), Shakib Al Hasan, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Harbhajan Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy
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