IPL 2021 Match Prediction: Kolkata Knight Riders versus Rajasthan Royals. 54th Match. Who Will Win?

The Kolkata Knight Riders enter their final group game of the 2021 IPL with their destiny well and truly in their hands. If they win this game, then it is highly unlikely that they will be overtaken by the Mumbai Indians because their Net Run Rate is a lot better, meaning a win all but assures qualification for the playoffs. The Rajasthan Royals are no longer in playoff contention, so they are just playing for pride. Read on to find out our prediction for this match.

Kolkata Knight Riders Team Preview

The Kolkata Knight Riders will be glad that their last match is against an out of form Rajasthan Royals, but they will probably not be pleased by the fact that they are playing at Sharjah. The conditions at this stadium have been really slow, meaning that stroke play has been difficult. Batting first on this wicket can be tricky because it is not easy to work out what the par score is.

Shubman Gill scored runs in the last match, while the likes of Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, and Nitish Rana have all been in decent form. There can be no doubt that the KKR batting lineup is stronger than the lineup that the Rajasthan Royals can call upon.

Their bowling attack is really strong, and should be able to extract some spin from the spin-friendly surface that is expected for this game. Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, and Shakib Al Hasan are good enough to challenge any batting lineup that is put in front of them. Then, Shivam Mavi and Tim Southee are a decent fast-bowling duo.

Rajasthan Royals Team Preview

The Rajasthan Royals, without doubt, will be extremely disappointed by the performances that they have put in during the last couple of weeks. They had a good chance to qualify for the playoffs, but they threw it away and buckled under the pressure.

The Rajasthan Royals do not have a bad batting lineup thanks to the likes of Evin Lewis, Sanju Samson, Sivam Dube, and Yashasvi Jaiswal. In fact, these batsmen have the ability to win matches on their own, and could surprise the KKR if they are not on the top of their game.

However, with nothing to play for except pride, the Rajasthan Royal batsmen might find it tough to motivate themselves for this last game. Their bowling selections, to be quite frank, have been strange and hard to understand. We mean, what is the point of having a quality bowler like Jaydev Unadket in your ranks if you are not going to bother playing him?

Their bowling attack lacks quality death bowlers, pace, and dependable spinners. They also failed to find the correct balance in the second stage of the 2021 IPL.

Toss Prediction

The team that is lucky to win the toss will want to bowl first. This is a clear advantage as can be seen by the fact that four of the last five games played at this stadium have been won by the side that fielded first. So, we would be very surprised if the captain that wins the toss decides that he wants to have a bat first.

Pitch Conditions

The conditions at this stadium in Sharjah have been tricky for all batsmen. Low scores of 130-140 have proven tough for teams to chase down and setting a reasonable target also seems pretty tricky. We are expecting another low-scoring game that is dominated by the spinners.

Our Match Prediction

We are going to put our money on the KKR to win this game because they have a much stronger batting lineup and we think that their spinners can take advantage of the Sharjah conditions. The RR do have some dangerous players, but the fact of the matter is they have lost three of their last four matches, including one against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, who are going to finish at the bottom of the table.

Our match prediction: