The Kolkata Knight Riders got the 7th position in the Points table with getting just two victories out of seven matches. The other team Royal Challengers Bangalore also played seven matches and they named five victories so far, and they are standing at number 3 in the points table. In the first match of season 14, Royal Challengers Bangalore had won by 2 wickets against MI, the target was 160.
GJ Maxwell is the top-runs scorer of the season from the RCB team. He scored 223 runs in seven matches. AB de Villiers scored 207, V Kohli 198, D Padikkal 195. HV Patel is their leading wickets taker of the 2021 IPL season. He took 17 wickets in seven matches. From the KKR team, PJ Cummins is their top performer in the bowling department with nine wickets. M Prasidh Krishna took 8 and AD Russell 7. N Rana is the leading runs scorer of the KKR team with 201 runs, RA Tripathi 187, and AD Russell 163.
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore Highlights today, Monday 20-09-2021 – 31st Match (N), Indian Premier League season 14th from Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi.
Toss: RCB chose to bat.
Kohli says: “Grass covering is to hold the surface together. We think it is going to slow down as the game progresses. More special than the 200th game is this uniform: we promised that we would be playing for the Covid warriors, with these jerseys being auctioned for people.”
Morgan: “Should stay similar throughout. The team is not drastically different from the last outing. We had a lot of positives to take, and we are hoping we can turn it around quickly.”
IPL 2021 Points Table
Kolkata Knight Riders team: 1 Venkatesh Iyer, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Rahul Tripathi, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Andre Russell, 7 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 8 Sunil Narine, 9 Lockie Ferguson, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Prasidh Krishna.
Royal Challengers Bangalore team: 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Devdutt Padikkal, 3 KS Bharat (wk), 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 AB de Villiers, 6 Wanindu Hasaranga, 7 Sachin Baby, 8 Kyle Jamieson, 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal.
Match Timings: 14:00 GMT | 18:00 Local
Umpires – Chris Gaffaney, Yeshwant Barde
TV Umpires – Sundaram Ravi, Virender Sharma
Match Referee – Narayanan Kutty, Prakash Bhatt
Reserve Umpire – Anil Dandekar, Ulhas Gandhe
Match number – Indian Premier League 2021 Match No 31st
Post match presentation
Shubman Gill:
We wanted to make a comeback from where we were, it was a bold statement. Hopefully, we will continue and qualify. It was a good opportunity to get our run rate going, that was the plan, and happy to execute it. Venkatesh Iyer was batting well in the practice matches as well, to bat and have such a great performance on debut is pleasing. My return felt good, was gutted by the way I got out but hopefully, I’ll complete it in the next game. The way we started off, after the first six overs, the way we bowled, was great to see Sunny and Varun come into the mix. I think in the first innings, it was a bit slow, in the second innings, the ball was coming on pretty nicely.”
Virat Kohli:
“Was important to get a good partnership. We didn’t expect that much dew to kick in that early. From 42 for 1, we lost 5 wickets for 20-odd. Bit of a wake-up call might as well have this at the start of the second leg so that we know what we should work on. You can make the argument that we were rusty but as professionals, you’re expected to turn up and adjust. Sometimes it can take you a game, I hope not two, to get into the tournament, you have to stay with the eight-ball, if you’re not, the other teams will be all over you.
Pretty good from Varun, he’s going to be a key factor when he plays for India. It’s great guys who’ve got the opportunity to play at the international level. He’s someone who is going to play in the near future for India, it’s a great sign. We have five-win from eight, we expect a loss here and there, it’s part and parcel, need to be professional, stick to our strengths, and execute our plans. We have absolute confidence in our squad to pull up next game onwards and put in strong performances.”
Varun Chakravarthy is the Player of the Match for his 3 for 13. He bowled 15 dot balls in his four-overs spell, took a catch, and also ran out Kyle Jamieson.
“When I have the ball in my hand, I try to assess the pitch,” he says. “It was flat, credit to the bowlers for bowling well in the PP. I like to set it up for the bowlers who come on after me. There wasn’t much spin on offer, so I had to keep my line on the stumps only. Playing for India has made me feel better, I have a sense of acceptance from people around me because I started at 26.”
Eoin Morgan:
“Very rarely do you perform as well as we have today. The talent we have within our squad it counts for nothing, you have to still go out and show how strong you are and we did today. I didn’t think the wicket changed a great deal, RCB started well, but taking a wicket at the backend of the PP changed things for us.
Collectively, we took valuable wickets. Maxwell, AB, Virat – we managed to get on top of all of them, it’s very rare as well. As a group, with the expressive nature with which the guys play, playing under me or Baz, should be an absolute treat. We’re not going to knock people for playing their shots. We have a long way to go, need a lot of things to go right. Today’s the right start, need that run of confidence. We haven’t turned up for the majority of the tournament, but today was a great start.”
