Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) are set to take on Eoin Morgan-led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) do-or-die eliminator game in Sharjah. Kolkata had clinched two IPL titles in a space of three years in 2012 and 2014.
Bangalore skipper Kohli, on the other hand, will eye the maiden IPL trophy on captaincy swansong. The team that wins this contest faces the loser of Qualifier 1 while it will be the end of the road for the other team.
[IPL 2021 Eliminator - RCB vs KKR head to head, injury updates and full squad]
For Bangalore, skipper Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal have been able to provide decent starts. All-rounder Glenn Maxwell has taken responsibility for the batting order apart from wicketkeeper KS Bharat delivering the goods. In terms of bowling, Harshal Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal have been shouldering the load
Royal Challengers Bangalore Squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Navdeep Saini, Glenn Maxwell, Dan Christian, Rajat Patidar, Dushmantha Chameera, Pavan Deshpande, Mohammed Siraj, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Sachin Baby, Wanindu Hasaranga, George Garton, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shahbaz Ahmed, Devdutt Padikkal, Kyle Jamieson, Suyash Prabhudessai, KS Bharat, Tim David, Akash Deep, and AB de Villiers.
Kolkata, who finished fourth on the table with seven wins out of 14 matches, were strengthened at the top by Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer. Both the openers have shone with fantastic knocks while Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Rana have chipped in with useful cameos. On the bowling front, Lockie Ferguson, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, and Sunil Narine have picked wickets consistently.
Kolkata Knight Riders Squad: Eoin Morgan (captain), Dinesh Karthik, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Karun Nair, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathy, Shubman Gill, Harbhajan Singh, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Pawan Negi, M Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Dube, Tim Southee, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russel, Ben Cutting, Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Sheldon Jackson, and Tim Seifert.
PITCH REPORT
The Sharjah surface has mostly required batters to spend time on it before going gung-ho but failing to settle down could only bring you more trouble. One can expect the side winning the toss to bat first and put on a sizeable total.
WEATHER UPDATES
It's expected to be a warm and humid day in Sharjah with the temperature fluctuating around 30 degrees in the evening. The teams are expected no respite from the heatwave while rain interruption is not a possibility.
