The 14th edition of the IPL kicked off on Friday April 9th, 2021 in Chennai. IPL 14 will be played in India as the 60 matches will be played over 52 days across six venues in Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.
The newly renovated world’s largest stadium in Ahmedabad will host the playoffs and the final, which will be held on May 30. The home advantage is taken away from all of the eight teams as every team will play all their 14 games on neutral venues.
Week 3 saw 8 matches being played with CSK continuing a brilliant run. CSK top the table with 10 points at the end of Week 3 having won the last 5 matches in a row.
Punjab Kings (PBKS) will face Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in match 26 of the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad.
Key Highlights
Punjab Kings hold a 14-12 head-to-head advantage over Royal Challengers Banglaore
PBKS had beaten RCB on both league stage encounters last season
Chris Gayle is the top-scoring player in this particular fixture
Punjab Kings: KL Rahul (C/wk), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Dawid Malan, Deepak Hooda, Shahrukh Khan, Moises Henriques, Chris Jordan, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (C), Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers (wk), Washngton Sundar, Daniel Sams, Kyle Jamieson, Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj.
Royal Challengers Bangalore’s fast bowlers have taken 31 wickers this season - the most out of all teams - averaging 21.6 - the best out of all teams - and have maintained an economy rate of 8.4 - the joint-second best.
Nicholas Pooran has come off the boil a little bit with teams focusing on his weakness against the short ball. But if the Kings can push him up the order - from No. 5 to No. 4 - he has a better chance of facing the kind of bowling he likes - spin (strike rate 163). Additionally, he has a strike rate of 166 in the middle overs (7-16) of an IPL game.
Yuzvendra Chahal has been topping the wrong charts this IPL. He has the second-worst strike rate (38) and the worst economy rate (8.2) out of all spinners with a minimum of 15 overs bowled.
(Data considered from Match 17 to Match 25)
