Chris Gayle, RCB
Chris Gayle will want to garner a place in the RCB playing XI and put on a show for the home crowdIANS

Chris Gayle has  notched quite a few scores at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in the past, and the big man from Jamaica will hope he gets an opportunity to produce one more when the Royal Challengers Bangalore host the Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2017 on Friday.

Gayle has only played six matches this season, with the opener dropped on more than a few occasions in IPL 2017.

In those six matches, Gayle has scored a total of 152 runs at an average of 25.33 and a strike rate of 124.59. While that might not be the worst of numbers, it isn't to Gayle's usual standards, even if the fact that he hasn't had a sustained run in the team has also played a part.

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Gayle was dropped when RCB met the Kings XI Punjab in the reverse fixture in Indore earlier this season, with AB De Villiers coming in to play his first game and scoring a quite fantastic 89.

Travis Head has been preferred to Gayle in the last couple of matches, but the Australian has not quite been able to get his groove on.

With the batting still a big problem for RCB, Gayle might come in, either for Head or Shane Watson.

The fact that there is absolutely no pressure on RCB anymore, what with the team out of the running for a place in the IPL 2017 playoffs, might also help, with Gayle now able to go into six-town from ball one, instead of trying to take that extra time, before hitting the launch button.

With this being a dead rubber as far as they are concerned, RCB might also consider making quite a few changes, by giving the players who haven't played too much a chance. What those changes could be is hard to predict, but the inclusion of Gayle does look likely.

Martin Guptill, KXIP
Martin Guptill impressed with the bat in the last game for KXIPIANS

Kings XI Punjab have had a nice little break, with the team last playing on Sunday.

What that break has also done is open up their chances of making the IPL 2017 playoffs.

Having played nine games, Kings XI have eight points, and if they manage to pick up four wins in their next five, they should finish in the top four. Even three more wins might suffice, if other results go their way.

So, this is an important game for KXIP, and getting the playing XI right will be paramount.

One man who won't be available for selection is Eoin Morgan, with the left-hander joining up with the England squad for the ODI series against Ireland. Morgan is expected to return after the two-game series ends on Sunday.

Kings XI enjoyed a thoroughly convincing win over the Delhi Daredevils in their last match, and having had a really good rest as well, they are expected to stick with the same playing XI, with Martin Guptill set to open the innings again with Hashim Amla.

Confirmed playing XI:

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli (C), AB De Villiers, Kedar Jadhav, Shane Watson, Mandeep Singh, Pawan Negi, Samuel Badree, S Aravind, Aniket Choudhary, Yuzvendra Chahal.

 

Kings XI Punjab: Martin Guptill, Hashim Amla, Manan Vohra, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell (C), Wriddhiman Saha, Axar Patel, Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Sharma, Varun Aaron, T Natarajan.