Royal Challengers Bangalore, currently bottom of the table, look to continue their winning momentum when they take on Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday.
In what was a huge shot in the arm, they registered a one-run win over a formidable Chennai Super Kings, and would be desperate to keep the juggernaut rolling. Having survived a brutal assault at the hands of Mahendra Singh Dhoni late in the game, they should have gained some confidence. However, star batsmen AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli missed out in the game.
RCB might draw some inspiration from their match-winning knocks of an unbeaten 59 by De Villiers and 67 by Kohli against Punjab when the two teams met at Mohali.
However, their bowling remains a worry despite the arrival of pace ace Dale Steyn. RCB’s bowling was exposed once again in the last match during Dhoni’s jaw-dropping assault.
The visitors ultimately fell short by just one run with wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel saving the day for them by running out Shardul Thakur with CSK needing two from the last ball. It was only the three-time finallists’ third win in 10 games in the season so far.
KXIP have lost some momentum and are placed fifth in the points table with 10 points. Ravichandran Ashwin’s outfit will be coming out all guns blazing, especially after losing their previous match agonisingly.
Punjab would want to consolidate their position in the points table with the help of hard-hitting West Indian Chris Gayle, KL Rahul and David Miller, all of whom would be looking to expose RCB’s bowling attack.
The pace-spin duo of Mohammed Shami and Ashwin has been KXIP’s best best and they will have to deliver the goods with their bowling attack blowing hot and cold. Ankit Rajpoot, Sam Curran, Hardus Viljoen and Andrew Tye will have to come up with a much better show.
The two teams have played some classic games over the years and the 2014 finallists hold a narrow edge over their opponents, having won on 12 occasions against Bangalore’s 11. Ashwin will be encouraged by the fact that his side have done well in Bangalore, having won five matches.
Squads:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (c), Parthiv Patel, AB de Villiers, Colin de Grandhomme, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Moeen Ali, Shimron Hetmyer, Dale Steyn, Shivam Dube, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Devdutt Padikkal, Himmat Singh, Milind Kumar, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Heinrich Klaasen, Pawan Negi, Washington Sundar, Akshdeep Nath, Prayas Ray Barman, Kulwant Khejroliya, Tim Southee.
Kings XI Punjab: Lokesh Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Sarfaraz Khan, David Miller, Mandeep Singh, Sam Curran, Ravichandran Ashwin (c), Andrew Tye, Murugan Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Karun Nair, Moises Henriques, Varun Chakravarthi, Harpreet Brar, Simran Singh, Nicholas Pooran, Hardus Viljoen, Ankit Rajpoot, Arshdeep Singh, Darshan Nalkande, Agnivesh Ayachi.
(With inputs from PTI)