IPL 2018 preview: Nothing but a win will do for Virat Kohli's RCB against KXIP

Sport360 staff 15:31 13/05/2018
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  • Virat Kohli's RCB side are desperate for a win.

    Virat Kohli‘s Royal Challengers Bangalore know that only a win will do against out-of-form Kings XI Punjab if they are to stand any chance of claiming an unlikely Indian Premier League playoff berth.

    RCB, rooted in second from bottom in the table, sparked some rest bite last time out with a five-wicket victory over Delhi Daredevils.

    Though, it has been a largely disappointing campaign for the franchise who need to win this one and then their final two group matches to stand any chance of progression to the business end of the 11th edition of the IPL.

    The picture, on paper at least, is brighter for KXIP but that doesn’t tell the full story of their recent plight. Ravi Ashwin’s men could really do with maximum points to not only secure third spot but also fend off the growing advances of fourth-placed Kolkata Knight Riders.

    The team from Mohali have faded away in spectacular fashion, losing four out of their past five matches. They also were defeated by RCB in their clash back in April, by a four-wicket margin.

    Taking that into account and their wretched run, the odds are in RCB’s favours to reignite their charge, especially with two lynchpins: Kohli and AB de Villiers, capable of seeing the hosts to victory much like they did chasing 182 against the Daredevils.

    Batting strong but bowling woes

    While both KL Rahul (537 runs) and Chris Gayle (332 runs) have performed excellently with the willow and all too often carried this KXIP team, their bowling attack has lacked the depth and potency required.

    Aside from standout Andrew Tye, who has 20 scalps in the competition, and the rich form of spinning prodigy Mujeeb ur Rahman, Ashwin and Axar Patel have struggled to break important and often match-winning opposition partnerships while reserve pacers Barinder Sran and Mohit Sharma have gone for runs, showing little clinical edge.

    Tinkerman Kohli

    Similarly, RCB’s contingent with the ball haven’t hit their strides consistently but perhaps captain Kohli himself is as guilty as anyone for that having often chopped and changed his bowling line-up to varying degrees of success.

    Both Yuzvendra Chahal and Umesh Yadav have played in all the matches so far, taking 24 wickets between them, with the Indian duo having the capability of swinging the game in Bangalore’s favour if they can muster an early spree against the top-order.

    At Indore, RCB will need to rely on that with both Chris Woakes and Tim Southee proving a bit hit and miss in spite of their wholesale international experience.

    Royal Challengers Bangalore Squad from:

    Virat Kohli(c), AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Brendon McCullum, Chris Woakes, Colin de Grandhomme, Moeen Ali, Quinton de Kock, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Manan Vohra, Kulwant Khejroliya, Aniket Choudhary, Navdeep Saini, Murugan Ashwin, Mandeep Singh, Washington Sundar, Pawan Negi, Mohammed Siraj, Parthiv Patel, Aniruddha Joshi, Pavan Deshpande, Tim Southee, Corey Anderson

    Kings XI Punjab Squad from:

    Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin(c), Yuvraj Singh, Karun Nair, Lokesh Rahul, 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

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