The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will take on Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Tuesday. It is the 63rd match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2013 and the second meeting for the teams.
Overview:
KXIP got the better of RCB in their earlier meeting this season, defeating the visitors by six wickets. RCB, who are under pressure to win to book a place in the Play-Offs, will be looking forward to avenge their earlier defeat.
RCB are placed in the fourth position with 16 points after winning eight of the 14 games played. They come into this game after conceding a five-wicket defeat to KKR in the previous match. With Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals sitting comfortable with 20 points each, they are under pressure to win the remaining two matches to make it to the Play-Offs. They have not conceded lost at home this season, and the next two games scheduled in Bangalore, they will keen to make the most out of it.
KXIP are in the seventh position with 10 points after winning five of the 13 matches played. They lost the last two games, the latest against Sunrisers Hyderabad. They are almost out of the competition for the Play-Offs as there are five teams with 16 or more points in the table. They will be keen to put up a good show and end the tournament on a high even if they don't make it to the final four.
Previous Meetings:
KXIP have 6-5 win-loss record against RCB in their 11 encounters in IPL. The Punjab franchise defeated Bangalore franchise by six wickets in their earlier meeting this season.
Team News:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: The batting line-up of the team collapsed in their previous match, managing to put up only 115 on the board. Chris Gayle and Ab De Villiers showed some spark but couldn't convert it to big scores. They along with skipper Virat Kohli need to fire on Tuesday and take the pressure of other batsmen like Cheteshwar Pujara, Saurabh Tiwary and Moises Henriques.
Vinay Kumar is the most consistent bowler of the side and he took two wickets in the previous match too, otherwise RCB's weakness is bowling. They let opponents chase big totals which will worry them. Jaydev Unadkat, RP Singh, Ravi Rampaul, Murali Kartik and Muttiah Muralidaran are in the side and they should show discipline in the remaining games.
Kings XI Punjab: Skipper Adam Gilchrist, Luke Pomersbach and Rajagopal Sathish were the main contributors for the team in the previous match but none of them converted their good start into big scores. Mandeep Singh and David Miller are in good form this season, and Shaun Marsh is capable of turning a match. David Hussey was replaced by Pomersbach in the previous game due to poor form.
Sandeep Sharma was the leading wicket taker (three wickets) in the match against SRH. They have Parvinder Awana, Manpreet Gony, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, Azhar Mahmood, Harmeet Bansal and Ryan Harris in the bowling attack. Their performance this season has been pretty good.
Prediction:
KXIP have better record against RCB and won their previous encounter but Tuesday's match is expected to be a different game all together as the latter have won all the games played at home this season. RCB are the favourites to win on Tuesday.
SQUADS:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (captain), AB De Villiers, Abhimanyu Mithun, Abhinav Mukund, Andrew McDonald, Arun Karthik, Cheteshwar Pujara, Chris Gayle, Christopher Barnwell, Daniel Christian, Daniel Vettori, Harshal Patel, Jaidev Unadkat, K P Appanna, Karun Nair, Mayank Agarwal, Moises Henriques, Murali Kartik, Muttiah Muralitharan, Pankaj Singh, Prasanth Parameswaran, R Vinay Kumar, Ravi Rampaul, Rudra Pratap Singh, S Aravind, Sandeep Warrier, Saurabh Tiwary, Sheldon Jackson, Sunny Sohal, Syed Mohammad, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Vijay Zol, Zaheer Khan
Kings XI Punjab: Adam Gilchrist (C), Azhar Mahmood, Bhargav Bhatt, Bipul Sharma, David Hussey, David Miller, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Gurkeerat Mann Singh, Harmeet Singh Bansal, Luke Pomersbach, Manan Vohra, Mandeep Singh, Manpreet Gony, Nitin Saini, Parvinder Awana, Paul Valthaty, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, Rajagopal Sathish, Ryan Harris, Sandeep Sharma, Shaun Marsh, Siddharth Chitnis, Sunny Singh
Where to Watch Live
The match will begin at 4:00 pm IST and will be telecast live on Sony Set Max channel.
