Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will face Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Monday in the Indian Premier League (IPL-2021 Phase-2). In Phase-1, RCB finished third in the points table with 10 points from 7 matches with excellent performance. KKR's team, on the other hand, seemed to be struggling to regain form and won just 2 out of 7 matches. KKR's team is in the seventh position with 4 points. In this match, RCB captain Virat Kohli can make 2 big records in his name.
This match is the 200th match of RCB captain Virat Kohli in IPL. Virat will become the first player to play 200 matches for any one team. However, overall he will become the fifth player to reach this milestone. Before him, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma, and Suresh Raina have played 200 matches in the IPL.
Virat Kohli can become the first Indian batsman to score 10,000 runs in T20 cricket. They are just 71 runs away from this feat. Before him, Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Shoaib Malik, and David Warner have crossed the 10,000-run mark in this format.
Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins withdrew from the second phase. In his absence, Lockie Ferguson can get a place in KKR's playing-11. Fast bowler Ferguson can also bat well in the lower order. Apart from them, captain Oen Morgan, Andre Russell, and Sunil Narine can be three other foreign players on the team. The team also has an excellent all-rounder in Shakib Al Hasan. However, Shakib's chances of making a comeback look slim considering the way Narine performed in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) recently.
RCB all-rounder Washington Sundar has been ruled out of the season due to injury. In his place, Sri Lankan all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga is considered almost certain to get a chance in the playing-11. Apart from him, AB de Villiers and Kyle Jameson could be the other three foreign players in the team.
Former team captain Dinesh Karthik is a very important member of KKR's team. However, sending him to bat in the beginning is not much beneficial for the team. From the 2020 season till now, whenever Karthik has come out to bat before the 13th over, his average has been only 12.5 and strike rate of 116. At the same time, when he comes to bat after the 13th over, his average becomes 104. The strike rate also increases to 171.
AB de Villiers is considered one of the most destructive batsmen in the world, but he changed his stance in Phase 1 of the 2021 season. He played cautiously in the beginning and batted stormy in the death overs. His strike rate in the middle order was just 92. At the same time, in the death overs, he has batted with a strike rate of 243. AB can bat again with the same approach.
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