IPL 2021, Match 26: PBKS vs RCB, Stats Preview: Player records and approaching milestones

On Friday night, it is a clash of two teams which are well known to have a lot of common players in the last few years. However, there has been a stark difference in the performances of the teams – with RCB having five wins and PBKS having just two wins when both teams have played six matches each. However, Punjab Kings can be taking some confidence from the fact that they defeated RCB in both their group stage encounters last season.

In the last match against Delhi Capitals, it was a rare failure for their red-hot top-order of Kohli, Padikkal, and Maxwell – but still, they could win due to an ABD special. Adding to their superstar batting prowess, there is Harshal Patel who is dominating the Purple Cap charts, though the tournament is not so old. For Punjab Kings, they have KL Rahul, who is in third place in the Orange Cap leaders.

However, he is the only Punjab player in the top-10, and also has the lowest strike rate among the top-10. In their bowling, Mohammed Shami and Arshdeep Singh are the leaders in the wickets chart with similar averages hovering around 26.

Now let’s have a look at the stats ahead of the PBKS-RCB IPL encounter

21 – Wickets taken by Yuzvendra Chahal against Punjab Kings in the IPL, at an average of just 17.33. This average is the lowest of all players with 20 or more wickets against Punjab Kings in the league.

193 – Runs scored by KL Rahul against Punjab Kings in IPL 2020. His 199 runs against PBKS in the 2020 IPL season, is the highest of any player against a team in an IPL season without getting dismissed at all.

132 – This includes a score of 132 by Rahul against RCB last season, which is the highest by an Indian in IPL, and also the highest score by a captain in IPL.

74.20 – KL Rahul’s average against RCB, which is the highest of any player against any current team in IPL (min: 300 runs).

53.40 – Chris Gayle’s average against Royal Challengers Bangalore, which is his highest among all other oppositions in the IPL.

2 – Punjab Kings are one of the only two teams to defeat RCB in both their group stage encounters in the last season of IPL, along with the Delhi Capitals.

42 – Total sixes hit by AB de Villiers against Punjab Kings in IPL, the most by AB de Villiers against any opposition. Only Chris Gayle has more sixes against Punjab Kings in the league (61).

4 – Wickets required for Mohammed Shami to reach 50 IPL wickets for Punjab Kings. He will become the fourth player to reach the milestone after Piyush Chawla, Sandeep Sharma, and Axar Patel.