After a thrilling start to the Playoffs last night, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will duke it out with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Eliminator of IPL 2021 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Monday. A cracker of a contest is on the cards as the two sides will walk into game on the back on victories and fine all round performances.
The stakes are pretty high in this game as the winner of this encounter will take on the Delhi Capitals in Qualifier 2 on Wednesday at the same venue while the loser will be knocked-out of the tournament.
The Free Press Journal conducted a poll on Twitter ahead of the match which will commence today at 7:30 PM. The poll was conducted to find out which of the two teams will win the battle on the field today.
Poll results indicate that there are more possibilities of RCB winning the game against KKR as 60% of cricket fans have voted in favour of the Virat Kohli-led side, while only 40% are favouring Eoin Morgan's Men.
Virat Kohli-led RCB, except for few instances, have hardly put a foot wrong in the tournament as they sailed into the playoffs comfortably with 9 wins from 14 games, finishing on the third spot at the points table. Moreover, both their departments have fired in unison to prove themselves as one of the most formidable sides of the season. The batting order has put up fine performances thanks to their batting prodigy Devdutt Padikkal, skipper Kohli and 'Big Show' Glenn Maxwell. Their bowling too has been exceptional with the likes of Harshal 'Purple' Patel and the experienced Yuzvendra Chahal.
Eoin Morgan's KKR on the other hand, have been excellent in the second leg, brushing aside the baggage of poor first half with clinical performances in the desserts of UAE. The men in purple and gold finished fourth on the points table with 7 wins from 14 games. Besides, as far as the head to head record of both the teams is concerned, KKR have a slight edge over their opponents with 15 wins against RCB's 13 from 28 clashes in the IPL.
Coming to the Pitch report, the Sharjah track hasn’t been very friendly for the batters. Mounting runs during the powerplay will be crucial, as once ball gets old, it will be difficult to score runs. Team wining the toss is expected to chase.
