Two of the most mercurial IPL franchises meet once more tonight, as the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) face off against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). With both sides under new leadership, but with contrasting results so far, this clash promises to be just as entertaining as their overall rivalry, which has produced some of the most jaw-dropping moments in IPL history.
KKR lead the head-to-head record with 16 wins to RCB’s 13. This includes a victory for the men in purple and gold in last season’s eliminator as well as five on the trot between April 2017 and April 2019.
Gautam Gambhir has scored the most runs for KKR against RCB with 475 BCCI
To nobody’s surprise, Virat Kohli tops the batting charts in this fixture with 774 runs, well clear of A.B. de Villiers’s 606 and 475 runs by Chris Gayle and Gautam Gambhir. With ball in hand, Sunil Narine will look to extend his record of 20 wickets against RCB this evening, a tally that currently sees him ahead by one wicket of RCB’s Yuzvendra Chahal.
Before two of the IPL’s most beloved heavyweights take the field, My Kolkata would like to refresh your memories by revisiting three key moments from the KKR-RCB encounters over the years.
RCB collapse like a pack of cards
RCB’s 49 at the Eden Gardens remains the lowest total in an IPL innings till date TT archives
Batting first on a two-paced track at the Eden Gardens in late April 2017, KKR could only put up 131 runs on the board, with Narine top scoring with 34. RCB were in the driver’s seat at the break, but managed to finish the match on the receiving end of their worst-ever crash. A team stocked with some of the most formidable hitters in the competition were bundled out for a mere 49, with the triumvirate of Kohli, Gayle and ABD scoring just eight runs among them. Nathan Coulter-Nile had his finest hour in a KKR shirt with three wickets to his name, while Chris Woakes and Colin de Grandhomme also pocketed three each. In one of the all-time worst IPL collapses, RCB lost their last five wickets for nine runs!
The Lynn-Narine show at the Chinnaswamy
Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn demoralised the RCB bowling with their relentless onslaught in May 2017 TT archives
A fortnight after being humiliated at the Eden in 2017, RCB had to go through more misery against KKR, this time on their home patch at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. Batting first, Kohli’s men put up a target of 158, which was hardly going to be enough on a batters’ paradise in Bengaluru. And yet, nobody could have anticipated the blitzkrieg that was to hit the RCB as they came out to defend their modest score. The KKR openers, Narine and Chris Lynn, went all guns blazing in one of the most explosive opening stands in the IPL, crossing 100 runs even before the powerplay could conclude. Narine notched up the joint-fastest 50 in the IPL while Lynn also got to a half century, before Manish Pandey stroked the winning runs to complete a comprehensive drubbing.
RCB’s big guns all come to the party
No other IPL contest has produced more one-sided results than KKR-RCB match-ups. Another famous thrashing in this fixture (infamous for KKR fans) came in 2016, the season Kohli decided to become unstoppable in the IPL. Chasing a stiff target of 184 at the Eden, RCB got off to a flyer thanks to Gayle and never looked back. After Gayle, the former Knight, was bowled by Narine for 49, the IPL’s two most dependable batters joined forces at the crease. Watching Kohli and De Villiers manipulate the KKR bowling for fun proved almost masochistic for KKR loyalists, most of whom rarely fail to appreciate genuine class. Eventually, RCB coasted home with eight balls and nine wickets to spare, with an unbeaten 75 from Kohli and a 59 not out from De Villiers, rounding off a batting masterclass.