IPL 2021 Match Prediction: Royal Challengers Bangalore versus Kolkata Knight Riders. 58th Match. Who Will Win?

The 2021 IPL Playoffs have started, and it must be noted that teams playing in the Eliminator have gone on to lift the trophy more than those teams that qualified via Qualifier 1. The Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Kolkata Knight Riders will play each other in this season's Eliminator. These two teams played twice in this IPL campaign, and picked up one win a piece. Who will go on to win and make it to the final? Read on and all will be revealed.

Royal Challengers Bangalore Team Preview

The Royal Challengers Bangalore are in the playoffs of the IPL for the second year in a row, and they will be hoping that they can kick on and lift their first IPL trophy. The biggest difference that they have in comparison to previous seasons is that their Indian players have come to the party. The likes of Devdutt Padikkal, Shabz Ahmed, and KS Bharat have all helped the RCB win matches.

Their form has taken the pressure off Virat Kohli, who is going through a lean run at the moment, and AB de Villiers, who has not made an impact in the United Arab Emirates so far. The highest scorer for them is Glenn Maxwell, who is currently making a big impact in each game that he takes part in.

The biggest strength that the Royal Challengers Bangalore have is their six-hitting ability and the fact that many of their batsmen are just sheer geniuses when it comes to batting. However, the danger for this is playing on slow and spin-friendly pitches which is what the RCB have struggled on in the past.

Their bowling attack has been pretty good as of late as the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal has got his form back, Mohammad Siraj is bowling well, while Harshal Patel is currently in the form of his life. It will not be easy for the Kolkata Knight Riders to score against this bowling attack, but Siraj and Chahal might struggle against their lineup.

Kolkata Knight Riders Team Preview

Lockie Ferguson made his comeback for the Kolkata knight Riders in the previous game and he made an impact right away - he bowled four overs for just 18 runs and picked up three wickets to boot. All eyes will now be on Andre Russel as the Kolkata Knight Riders enter the knockout phase of the 2021 IPL, and we feel that he will be in the starting XI for this winner takes all match.

The Kolkata Knight Riders are a team that has managed to turn things around very well after their poor start. Just like with RCB, their Indian contingent have played very well in the UAE. The likes of Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, and Nitish Rana have all managed to get plenty of runs.

Then the likes of Eoin Morgan, Sunil Narine, and Shakib Al Hasan add some batting depth to their lineup. In most matches, the KKR should have enough fire power to make it past the RCB.

Their spin bowling department will be their biggest strength in this game. The likes of Varun Chakravarthy, Al Hasan, and Narine will make it really hard for RCB to score in the middle overs. This could end up being the difference between winning and losing.

Toss Prediction

The Kolkata Knight Riders won the previous game in Sharjah by 86 runs when batting first. Therefore, if they go ahead and win the toss again, there is a good chance that they will opt to bat first. We also think that the Royal Challengers Bangalore will also choose to bat first if they were the ones to win the toss.

Pitch and Conditions

There will be no rain about, but it will be interesting to see how the wicket behaves. The KKR hit 171 in the last game they played at Sharjah, but the pitch was not much better than the others that we have seen there over the course of this second half of the 2021 IPL. We expect a slow surface that is hard to score off and boundaries being hard to come by. Therefore, taking all this into consideration, we believe that 160 could be a match-winning score.

Our Match Prediction

We are going to put our money on the Kolkata Knight Riders to win this game and keep Kohli and his men waiting for their first IPL title. We think they will win it because they have a stronger bowling attack than the RCB and they bat deep. The return of Russell is something that is trick to ignore and will add plenty to their team as well. The RCB have struggled in slow conditions, and this could haunt them again in this game. We also feel that their over reliance on Maxwell will end up being an issue.

Our match prediction: