ROYAL CHALLENGERS BENGALURU VS PUNJAB KING LIVE MATCH
ROYAL CHALLENGERS BENGALURU VS PUNJAB KING LIVE MATCH
Punjab Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore IPL 2024 Punjab Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore analysis
Preview by Kaushik Rangarajan
A handful of logistics managers walking into the P1 stand on an idyllic and warm Sunday afternoon in Bengaluru's Stadium received the above acoustic welcome. It was the sound of RCB's batters their range hitting and sending projectiles into unoccupied chairs around the ground. The homecoming hope is for the 'thud' to be replaced by a celebratory crowd roar. After a false start in Chennai, RCB have a run of three home games in an eight-day window where batting missteps will come with a big price
The Monday night fixture against Punjab Kings is a first opportunity to see if the Andy Flower alternate theory to playing on this most unforgiving of T20 grounds. Last year, for example, saw an average score of 196. RCB got 197 in a final 'win and qualify' game and still lost with five balls to spare. Could they, for instance, eschew all inhibition, forget about bowling strengths and hit out from the get go? To that extent, the partnership between Anuj Rawat and Dinesh Karthik on the opening night of IPL 2024 was a reassuring display of available depth
When: Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Punjab Kings, IPL 2024, March 25, 7:30 IST
Where: M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
What to expect: The pitch for the game has patchy grass cover that has been characteristic of some recent games played here. It could start slow and slightly two-paced before quickly reverting to type, as it did in the India-Afghanistan game two months ago. The venue has seen quite a bit of T20 cricket, notably with the opening leg of the WPL played here. As ever, expect sixes at the venue. As many as 134 were struck over seven games here last year, one coming every roughly every two overs.
Head to Head: RCB 14 - 17 PBKS. Punjab Kings have been something of a bogey team for RCB. Even in these last four seasons, when RCB have made three playoff appearances and the Kings none, PBKS hold a 5-2 advantage in clashes between the sides.
Team Watch:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Virat Kohli has an excellent IPL record against Arshdeep Singh [44 off 23, 0 dismissals] and will be tasked with laying down the marker by winning this early match-up. Harpreet Brar, who has dismissed Kohli twice in this competition, will be his challenge in the middle overs but then it'll be Faf du Plessis' turn to make most of his record - [79 off 46, 0 dismissals] against the left-arm spinner.
Probable XI: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Anuj Rawat (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Alzarri Joseph, Mayank Dagar, Karn Sharma, Mohammed Siraj [Impact Sub: Yash Dayal for Dinesh Karthik]
Punjab Kings
Kagiso Rabada has a positive match-up against RCB's 'Big Three'. He's dismissed Kohli four times in all T20s and has accounted for du Plessis and Maxwell thrice each. On the opposite end of the battle, Jonny Bairstow will look to take down Mohammed Siraj early. He has struck at a SR of 230 against RCB's pace ace without getting out even once.
Shikhar Dhawan (c), Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh, Sam Curran, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Liam Livingstone, Shashank Singh, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar [Impact Sub: Arshdeep Singh for Prabhsimran Singh]
Did you know?
RCB lost four of the five night games they played at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in IPL 2023
Faf du Plessis has an excellent record against PBKS. His scores against them since 2019 read: 54, 96, 87*, 48, 36*, 76, 88, 10 & 84 (last
Harshal Patel, who'll return to the Chinnaswamy Stadium, has a career ER of 11.31 in death overs at this venue
What they said:
The communication to me has been very clear. I am supposed to be batting down the order, but if we lose early wickets, I have to bat in the middle order. Keeping wickets last season in the last couple of games gave me a lot of confidence, and I am looking forward to continuing as a wicketkeeper-batsman this season as well Anuj Rawat
Squads:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Squad:
Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis(c), Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Anuj Rawat(w), Dinesh Karthik, Karn Sharma, Alzarri Joseph, Mayank Dagar, Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal, Akash Deep, Suyash Prabhudessai, Swapnil Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Lockie Ferguson, Mahipal Lomror, Will Jacks, Manoj Bhandage, Saurav Chauhan, Rajan Kumar, Himanshu Sharma, Tom Curran
Punjab Kings Squad:
Shikhar Dhawan(c), Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh, Sam Curran, Jitesh Sharma(w), Liam Livingstone, Shashank Singh, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Rilee Rossouw, Tanay Thyagarajan, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Chris Woakes, Rishi Dhawan, Sikandar Raza, Ashutosh Sharma, Atharva Taide, Nathan Ellis, Shivam Singh, Prince Choudhary, Vishwanath Singh
Comments
Post a Comment