Desperate to open their account at home this season, Royal Challengers Bengaluru will look to tame a formidable Punjab Kings when the two sides clash in an IPL match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Friday.
Having won four of their six matches so far, both teams will look to continue the momentum as they enter the halfway stage of the tournament. Both RCB and PBKS head into Friday’s game on the back of contrasting wins. While RCB breezed past Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur, the Punjab Kings squeezed past defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders in a low-scoring thriller in Mullanpur.
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Having said that, the memories of their previous losses, and their vulnerability against the quality spinners of Gujarat Titans and Delhi Capitals in their own backyard will haunt RCB, and thus the side will be wary of the prowess of the Punjab Kings’ spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Glenn Maxwell.
Having been a part of the RCB franchise in the past seasons, both Chahal and Maxwell are familiar with the conditions and the nature of the Chinnaswamy. Chahal has been in red-hot form, especially after the four-wicket haul against Kolkata Knight Riders, and Maxwell, who has been struggling with the bat, has compensated it with his part-time off-spin.
Chahal, a master in manipulating his lengths, often tosses the ball wide outside off-stump to lure batters into expansive shots, a ploy that frequently results in mistimed hits and catches in the deep. He’s also adept at subtly changing his pace, forcing batters to exert that extra effort if they’re aiming for maximums.
Maxwell operates in a similar fashion, banking on control over extravagant turns or variations. The Australian all-rounder has shown a knack for troubling right-handers in white-ball cricket, a trait that could prove valuable for Punjab, especially against the RCB line-up packed with right-handers.
RCB, meanwhile, will bank on their spin duo of Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma to return the favour, although they boast of a more potent pace attack comprising the likes of Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar as against the Punjab pace attack led by Arshdeep Singh and Marco Jansen.
The batting department of both sides appears a formidable unit, armed with batters with the ability to play to the situation, and press the accelerator when required. The RCB line-up boasts of a handy opening pair in Phil Salt and Virat Kohli, followed by the likes of Rajat Patidar, Tim David, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma, and Krunal.
On the opposition side, Shreyas Iyer has been in excellent form with the bat, barring a slight miss in the previous encounter. Punjab Kings also have a young and dynamic opening pair in Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh, who will be up for a stiff challenge against the decorated duo of Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar.
But the dissimilarities end there. They have exuded a reassuring calmness while guiding the team irrespective of outcomes. Patidar has been authoritative without being overbearing while leading a squad full of super stars such as Virat Kohli and Hazlewood. He has to be at his tactical and managerial best against a versatile opponent.
It remains to be seen whether Punjab brings back Marcus Stoinis, considering the lack of batting form of fellow Aussie Maxwell, but their middle order is well served by the Indian trio of Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh and Suryansh Shedge.
While Punjab will have all the right to take credit of the 16-run victory against KKR, they can hardly expect miracles to repeat every night, and thus their batting group will have their task cut out against a formidable opponent like RCB.
Squads:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Rajat Patidar (c), Virat Kohli, Yash Dayal, Josh Hazlewood, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Liam Livingstone, Rasikh Salam, Suyash Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Nuwan Thushara, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethel, Devdutt Padikkal, Swastik Chhikara, Lungi Ngidi, Abhinandan Singh, Mohit Rathee.
Punjab Kings: Shreyas Iyer (c), Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Yash Thakur, Suryansh Shedge, Praveen Dubey, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Harpreet Brar, Azmatullah Omarzai, Josh Inglis, Xavier Bartlett, Vishnu Vinod, Aaron Hardie, Kuldeep Sen, Harnoor Singh, Musheer Khan, Pyla Avinash.
