Royal Challengers Bangalore – Just a Glance Preview
Royal Challengers Bangalore – Just a Glance
- ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE FACE KKR IN ELIMINATOR
- I’M WORKING HARD AT THE NETS, READY FOR THE NEXT MATCHES: AB DE VILLIERS
- KS BHARAT’S LAST-BALL SIX CONJURES MEMORIES OF ARUN KARTHIK’S HOUDINI ACT IN 2011
- A LAST BALL THRILLER TO SCRIPT RCB’S HUNDREDTH WIN IN IPL
- RCB VS DC: THE FINAL PUSH
Royal Challangers Bangalore Preview
| Royal Challangers Bangalore Preview with details statistics about Today’s Match in Sharjah: After 28 head-to-head clashes over the 14-year span of the Indian Premier League (IPL), two of the competition’s glamour clubs – Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) – finally meet in a playoffs setting. After three seasons in the wilderness, and in Virat Kohli’s final year as captain, RCB are in the final stage of an IPL for a second time running, having lost last year’s Eliminator to Sunrisers Hyderabad. |
| Kohli’s men appear to be peaking at the right time of season, securing points from four of their last five matches in the UAE, chasing down 150+ twice and posting a first innings total of 160+ twice in those five games. If they can get more out of Kohli himself (just two 30+ scores in the UAE phase) and fellow veteran AB de Villiers (top score of 26 in the UAE this year), neither of whom have contributed RCB’s top score once in this second phase, that elusive inaugural title could be within reach. |
| Despite the efforts of Devdutt Padikkal at the top, RCB have been one of the most sluggish beginners of the league and have shown few signs that will change here. RCB have been responsible for the highest opening partnership and largest powerplay score just once in the UAE this year. KKR bowlers Varun Chakaravarthy and Lockie Ferguson have established two of the league’s best economy rates in the powerplay overs (5.17 and 5.87), whilst RCB opener Kohli laments a strike rate of just 105 against the spin of Sunil Narine. |
| Kolkata Knight Riders established themselves as one of the other form franchises of the UAE leg with five victories from seven outings, snapping a five-game losing streak to RCB when skittling them for 92 all out in Abu Dhabi three weeks ago. Andre Russell took three wickets on that occasion, and their season appeared to be under grave threat when injury eliminated him from the rest of the tournament. |
| After six straight matches involving KKR were won by the chasing side, they would have been most pleased to have posted their highest first innings score of the UAE phase (171) in a thumping defeat of Rajasthan. They’ll have to counter some spin troubles of their own in their first playoffs match in three years, as Dinesh Karthik and Nitish Rana have both struggled against the bowling of RCB’s Yuzvendra Chahal, averaging just 10.00 and 17.00 respectively. |
| Players to watch: RCB’s Yuzvendra Chahal has taken wickets in every UAE innings this year, averaging just 14.00 in this phase. He will start the match as RCB’s leading wicket-taker in Sharjah, with ten from 26 overs (6.31rpo). KKR captain Eoin Morgan needs 75 runs to avoid recording the poorest ever IPL season by a batting captain (min. ten matches), having reached double digits in just three of 13 innings. |
| Stat attack: The coin toss winner has gone on to win ten of the last 12 IPL matches in Sharjah. |
| Kolkata boast a commanding 9-3 H2H record when winning the toss. |
| The average IPL first innings total in Sharjah this season is just 137, or 153 for the three teams who have won batting first. |
| Seam bowlers are averaging just 19.27 (6.85rpo) at Sharjah in the IPL this year, compared with 26.58 (6.90rpo) for spinners. |
| Dan Christian has a top score of 1* from his six IPL innings this year. His 2021 average of 1.00 stands as the worst ever in an IPL season with at least five dismissals. |
Royal Challengers Bangalore Franchise & Home Venue
The Royal Challengers Bangalore (often abbreviated as RCB) are a franchise cricket team based in Bangalore, Karnataka, that plays in the Indian Premier League (IPL). It was founded in 2008 by United Spirits and named after the company’s liquor brand Royal Challenge. Since its inception, the team has played its home matches at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
The Royal Challengers have never won the IPL but finished runners-up on three occasions between 2009 and 2016. Their lack of success over the years despite the presence of various notable players has earned them the tag of “underachievers”.
- The team holds the records of both the highest and the lowest totals in the IPL – 263/5 and 49 respectively.
- In the 2018 IPL, RCB ended up 6th in the points table and didn’t qualify for the playoffs.
- In the 2019, Even with RCB’s disappointing performance in the season, most of their matches were close encounters and their fans were thoroughly entertained.
- At the end of the 12th season of the IPL franchise, RCB still remains among the three original teams of the franchise (the other two include Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Capitals) which haven’t won the IPL trophy yet.
Support and fan following of RCB
The Royal Challengers have a huge and passionate fan base all over India and especially in the city of Bangalore. The fans, known to be loyal and vocal in their support, often turn up in large numbers for RCB’s home matches turning the stadium into what is called a “sea of red”.
They are well known for their chants of “R-C-B, R-C-B” and chants of “A-B-D, A-B-D” for their maestro batsman AB de Villiers, and the co-ordinated Mexican wave at the Chinnaswamy. The stadium organisers also provide the home team fans with cheer kits, RCB flags and noisemakers among other items. Royal Challengers Bangalore have formed a fan-following group named as Bold Army.
During the 2014 IPL, the Royal Challengers became the first team to provide free Wi-Fi connectivity to fans at their home ground. 50 access points were set up using fibre optic cables to provide the connectivity to fans on match days at the Chinnaswamy.
IPL 2021 Bold Diaries | The RCB – Glenn Maxwell Story
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ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE SQUAD
George Carton
Bowler
Yuzvendra Chahal
Bowler
Shahbaz Ahmed
All Rounder
Devdutt Padikkal
Batsmen
Kyle Jamieson
All Rounder
Suyash Prabhu
Batsmen
KS Bharat
Wicket Keeper
Tim David
All Rounder
AB De Villiers
All Rounder
Navdeep Saini
Bowler
Virat Kohli
All Rounder (C)
Glenn Maxwell
All Rounder
Mohamed Siraj
Bowler
Harshal Patel
Bowler
W Hashranga
All Rounder
D Chameera
Bowler
I’m working hard at the nets, ready for the next matches: AB de Villiers
Royal Challengers Bangalore are all pumped after a last-ball win against Delhi Capitals in their last league game of IPL 2021. The team is now gearing up for the knockout stage where they first meet Kolkata Knight Riders on 11th October in the eliminator.
AB de Villiers, one of the batting mainstays of the team thinks that the team is getting close to playing their best in the tournament.
“I think we need to do what we are doing and maybe up it a notch. We have been speaking about peaking at the right time. We haven’t played our absolute best, but we’re getting close. If we can get that twitch in the finals, hopefully, there are good things to come,” de Villiers told Star Sports.
AB has not had many opportunities in the tournament so far, thanks to a solid performance from the top order which includes captain Kohli, young Devdutt Padikkal, wicket-keeper KS Bharat, and exuberant Glenn Maxwell.
But the South African assured that he is ready for the coming matches as he has been putting the hard yards in the nets.
“I’m feeling good, haven’t had a lot of opportunities so far. I’m hitting the ball well. Had a bit of a slow start today (against DC). Thought they bowled well to me on a deck that wasn’t easy to bat on, but I’m striking them well. I’m working hard at the nets and am ready to come for the next matches,” he added further.
RCB have made it to the playoffs for the second consecutive year and would want to go the distance in the UAE, which has been a happy hunting ground for the team.
Source: royalchallengers.com
