In the 48th match of the Indian Premier League, Ravichandran Ashwin-led Kings XI Punjab will aim to book their spot in the playoff when they will face star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday at the Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore.

Punjab are third on the table with 12 points from 11 matches, while Bangalore are out of the contention to finish top four at the end of the round-robin stage. They are on the seventh spot with eight points from 11 games.

Only SunRisers Hyderabad, with 18 points so far, have guaranteed themselves a place in the playoffs. There are three places still up for grabs for the knock-outs.

However, the problem for Punjab is that they arrive into the match on the back of two consecutive defeats and will take on a team that won’t be facing any pressure. From now onwards, the Virat Kohli-led Bangalore will be out to derail other teams’ chances.

In their past two defeats, Punjab lost to Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders. In the loss to Rajasthan, the problem was their batting, failing to chase down the 159-run target. Against Kolkata, the Punjab bowlers had a day to forget, conceding 245/6. However, Punjab managed to reach 214/8, falling short by 31 runs.

KXIP vs RCB head to head

So far, Punjab have won 12 clashes against RCB in 21 outings.

At the venue

Punjab had thrashed Bangalore by eight wickets in their maiden clash at Holkar stadium last year.

Ahead of the clash, here is everything you need to know:

Date: Monday, 14 May 2018.

Venue: Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore.

Telecast: Star Network.

Time: 8 pm IST.

Live streaming: Hotstar.

Teams:

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

Kings XI Punjab (From): Lokesh Rahul(w), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Aaron Finch, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin(c), Andrew Tye, Barinder Sran, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Yuvraj Singh, David Miller, Marcus Stoinis, Ankit Rajpoot, Manoj Tiwary, Akshdeep Nath, Ben Dwarshuis, Pardeep Sahu, Mayank Dagar, Manzoor Dar

-With IANS inputs.