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Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will square off against Eoin Morgan’s Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Eliminator of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 today. With 9 wins from 14 matches, RCB finished at the 3rd spot in the points table. KKR won 7 league stage matches to finish at the 4th spot.
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Since it’s an Eliminator, the losing team will be knocked out of the tournament while the winning side will be facing Delhi Capitals in the 2nd Qualifier on Wednesday (October 13). DC lost to Chennai Super Kings on Sunday.
Going into the Eliminator, RCB are expected to retain the same playing XI. KKR will definitely have one change if Andre Russell is fit and available for selection. But is he fit? Check out KKR’s likely playing XI for the Eliminator –
Openers
Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer have done the job in the UAE leg of IPL 2021 and will continue to kick off the proceedings for the two-time champions. Iyer has scored 239 runs in the season while Gill has 352 runs.
Middle-order
No changes are expected to middle-order and Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi will have the onus to propel KKR to a big total. They will be followed by Dinesh Karthik, who scored 14* off 11 against Rajasthan Royals. Even though skipper Eoin Morgan hasn’t made handy contributions with the bat, he has excelled on the captaincy front and will hope to score big.
All-rounders
Andre Russell, who suffered a leg injury against Chennai Super Kings two weeks ago, has started practicing with the team and looks set to make his comeback in the playing XI for the knockout game. If fit, he will be an automatic selection in the final XI. He will be partnering with Sunil Narine in this department.
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