FANTASY
Follow UsNOTE: All stats here are updated until 16 April 2021
Matches in the 2021 Indian Premier League are coming thick and fast and there’s a double-header for the first time this season on Sunday (April 18). The first of the two games on the day will see Royal Challengers Bangalore meet Kolkata Knight Riders. While RCB have got off to a perfect start, with two wins from as many matches, KKR will be disappointed by the manner of their loss against Mumbai Indians after having defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad earlier.
In matches between the two teams, KKR have an edge, having won 14 out of the 26 matches they’ve played against RCB in the IPL. While the Royal Challengers have won the last three fixtures between these sides, the Knight Riders won the five contests prior to that.
IPL HEAD-TO-HEAD
Overall: Matches – 26 | RCB – 12 Wins | KKR – 14 Wins
Last 5 Matches: RCB – 3 Win | KKR – 2 Wins
SUGGESTED TEAMS
While you could go for the above team, you also have the option of choosing your own team from cricket.com’s Fantasy Research Centre. Based on algorithms, we have come up with one team.
GROUND DETAILS
The MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai has hosted four matches in IPL 2021 so far and scoring hasn’t been easy, especially in the latter stages of the innings. The last three of those games has seen the team batting first come out on top.
Across the four matches at the venue this season, a dismissal has occurred every 20.5 runs and 15.5 deliveries.
When we consider T20 cricket since 2019 at the six venues that are hosting matches during this tournament, from a bowling perspective, Chepauk seems to be more favourable. In the aforementioned period, a wicket has fallen every 22.7 runs and 18.5 deliveries at this venue, which is a quicker rate than each of the other five stadiums.
TEAM COMBINATION
In IPL 2021 so far, spinners (7.3) have a better economy rate than pacers (8.1) in Chennai, but in fantasy cricket, it is wickets that matter more. On that front, despite the pitches being slow, it is the pacers who have accounted for dismissals more frequently.
Pacers have taken a wicket every 20.5 runs and 15.2 deliveries while those numbers are 24.2 and 19.8 respectively for spinners in the four matches at the venue until now. The faster bowlers have taken 64.9% of the wickets while bowling 58.8% of the overs – they’ve especially been very effective during the death overs.
We’ve selected three pacers and two spinners (three if Glenn Maxwell bowls) in our team.
There could be a few interesting match-ups too.
Virat Kohli and Pat Cummins are two of the top cricketers in the world at the moment and this should be a fascinating contest if it does take place. In T20 cricket, Cummins has managed to keep Kohli’s strike rate down to 111.8 when they’ve faced off so far. The RCB captain has been dismissed once in the format by the KKR pacer until now.
This is a contest that we could witness during the middle overs of KKR’s innings. Eoin Morgan and Yuzvendra Chahal both haven’t got off to the best of starts in IPL 2021 and they will be keen to make amends in this game. In T20 cricket so far, Morgan has struggled to score quickly against Chahal, managing just 55 runs from 61 deliveries while having been dismissed once.
CAPTAIN SUGGESTION
Virat Kohli: The RCB skipper got off to starts against both MI and SRH, scoring 33 on each occasion, but he wasn’t able to kick on and make a big score. He has been fairly consistent in the IPL over the years, scoring 450+ runs in five of the previous six seasons. In the IPL, he has scored 2411 runs at an average of 47.3 and strike rate of 139.3 while opening the batting.
Our Criclytics player projector predicts Kohli could score 23-24 runs in this match.
X-FACTORS
Andre Russell: The KKR all-rounder hasn’t made the best of starts to IPL 2021 with the bat, but his bowling has been impressive. In the match against MI, he picked up career-best T20 bowling figures of 5/15. As mentioned earlier, the wickets in Chennai have been more favourable to bowlers in the second half and that’s the period when Russell usually bowls most of his overs.
Our Criclytics player projector predicts Russell could score 14-21 runs and could take 0-1 wickets in this match.
Shahbaz Ahmed: The RCB all-rounder turned the match against SRH on its head, by taking three wickets in a single over. Apart from his bowling, Shahbaz also has the ability to contribute with the bat. He batted at number three in the previous match, and if he continues to do so, then he could be of great value in fantasy cricket as he is available at 8 credits on FanFight right now.
Our Criclytics player projector predicts Shahbaz could score 14-21 runs and could take 1-2 wickets in this match.
Shubman Gill: The KKR opener got off to a start against MI, scoring 33 and would have been disappointed to have not carried on and made a big score. After scoring 440 runs at an average of 33.8 in IPL 2020, Gill will want to do even better this season as he aims to become a regular member of India’s limited-overs teams.
Our Criclytics player projector predicts Gill could score 20-31 runs in this match.
(Image Courtesy – BCCI)
