Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have not win an IPL trophy yet despite of having a strong squad over the years. They reached the playoffs of IPL in 2020 after a gap of 4 years. They were defeated by Sunrisers Hyderabad in the eliminator.
Their record at M Chinnaswamy Stadium is not great, but this year teams will be playing at natural venues. So, this factor can work in their favor. On the other hand, KKR have won the IPL title twice in 2012 and 2014. However, they have failed to repeat those heroics again.
Both Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore have played 26 matches against each other in IPL, of which KKR have won14 matches and RCB have won the remaining 12 games. These two sides have a history of rivalry as RCB registered its lowest total of 49 runs against KKR.
Gambhir on being asked about his favorite moment of KKR vs RCB rivalry said, “49 all out is my favourite moment of the RCB vs KKR rivalry” in the pre-match presentation.
In the last five encounters between the two sides, the Royal Challengers hold a slight edge over the Knight Riders, winning three times. RCB won both the games against KKR last season.
In the last edition, RCB beat KKR by convincing margins in both the league games, including the one time they restricted Morgan and Co. to 88 in Abu Dhabi, and caused a massive dent of -3.430 in their Net Run Rate. It meant KKR missed the Playoffs berth despite having the same number of points (14) as the third-placed SRh and fourth placed RCB.