Royal Challengers Bangalore will look to overcome Kings XI Punjab again, as they play another must-win game to secure play-off chances.
Royal Challengers Bangalore meet Kings XI Punjab today in a bid to stay in the race for IPL play-offs. While RCB have the momentum with an emphatic win over Delhi Daredevils in their previous game, Kings XI are struggling to find form. KXIP have lost three of their last four games.
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RCB will look to derail Kings XI’s campaign, while ensuring their chances to qualify for the next round. Even when the Punjab team sits at third position, things can turn around drastically in the business end of IPL, as we have seen in the previous seasons.
We bring to you the weather and pitch report, as well as the head to head statistics between both the teams.
Weather report:
Royal Challengers need to win all their remaining games of the season to stay in the bid for play-offs, and they need the weather gods to be in their favour. Thankfully for them, the Indore weather tonight stays clear.
There will be only 12% cloud cover, which would mean that the skies would remain clear. Dew factor is minimal, although the team batting second may have an advantage if the pitch remains the same.
Weather isn’t likely to play spoilsport in the match today, which is good news for both the teams.
Pitch report:
This match will take place at the Holkar Stadium in Indore. As was quite evident in the previous game, this pitch is a bowlers’ graveyard.
Royal Challengers are currently 7th in the table with 8 points. KXIP are 3rd, with 12 points. For RCB, every game is a must-win.
Due to the small size of the ground, both the sides can use the factors to optimum use through their batting. KXIP’s opening pair of KL Rahul and Chris Gayle can make a mockery out of the ground’s size.
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RCB’s bowling, especially in the middle and death overs, has always been their weak factor. Although, given the size of the ground, the world’s two top players – Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers can run a rampage if they settle in.
The pitch at Holkar Stadium favours the batsmen. Shorter boundaries and even bounce may create problems for both the bowling line-ups.
Head to Head:
Both the sides have met each other on 21 occasions. KXIP leads with 12 wins, while RCB has won the remaining 9. In this IPL season, Royal Challengers overcame Kings XI by 4 wickets in their game at Bangalore.
However, former RCB player Chris Gayle didn’t play in that game. His inclusion would impact the game today.
Squads –
Kings XI Punjab – Ravichandran Ashwin (Captain), Axar Patel, Yuvraj Singh, Karun Nair, Lokesh Rahul (Wicket-keeper), Chris Gayle, David Miller, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Mayank Agarwal, Ankit Rajpoot, Manoj Tiwary, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Barinder Sran, Andrew Tye, Akshdeep Nath, Ben Dwarshuis, Pardeep Sahu, Mayank Dagar, Manzoor Dar.
Royal Challengers Bangalore – Virat Kohli (Captain), Quinton de Kock (WK), Brendon McCullum, AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Chris Woakes, Washington Sundar, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Colin de Grandhomme, Moeen Ali, Pawan Negi, Mohammed Siraj, Corey Anderson, Parthiv Patel, Tim Southee.
