Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kings XI Punjab: Match Preview

Two of the strongest batting teams in the Vivo IPL 2018 will face each other at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, on 13th of April. Royal Challengers Bangalore will be playing their first home match in the tournament. Virat Kohli's RCB did not start off their proceedings very well, by losing their initial match against the Kolkata Knight Riders and will be looking to bounce back in front of their home crowd whilst the Kings XI from Punjab, who won their opening encounter against the Delhi Daredevils, will look to extend their winning run.

Virat Kohli will be key for the Royal Challengers Bangalore

Virat Kohli, very surprisingly played a very slow knock by scoring just 31 off 33 balls, and he for sure would like to have a better outing against KXIP. Other batsmen like Quinton de Kock, Sarfaraz Khan and Chris Woakes would be keen to contribute more towards the scoreboard as well, and expecting a great batting pitch at the Chinnaswamy stadium in tomorrow's bout, we may see all of these scoring big runs tomorrow.

Talking about the Kings XI Punjab's batting, they did fine with KL Rahul, scoring the fastest half-century in the history of the IPL, Karun Nair, who played an intelligent knock and took calculated risks, David Miller & Marcus Stoinis, who as well contributed towards the end of the innings. And with Aaron Finch expected to return for the game against RCB, the Kings XI Punjab would look even more stronger. Their only concern will be Yuvraj Singh's form, who played a shoddy innings of 12 runs having faced 22 balls. 

Considering Tim Southee's recent form and ability to swing the ball, we might see him making his way into the RCB line-up tomorrow. He may replace either one of Sarfaraz Khan or Mandeep Singh, while Parthiv Patel might replace Quinton de Kock to allow the addition of Tim Southee. We also may see Colin de Grandhomme making his way instead of Southee, who would prove to be a decent finisher and a 6th bowling option as well. Aaron Finch should most likely come in for Mayank Agarwal, and Barinder Sran coming in for Mujeeb Zadran as only 4 overseas players are allowed.

Expecting a flat batting track at Bangalore for the game tomorrow, and taking the batting units of both teams and the dimensions of the ground into consideration, we all are set to witness a high-scoring encounter in Bangalore tomorrow. All eyes will be on the home team, who have such top-notch batsmen like Brendon McCullum, Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers in their line-up. 

It certainly shouldn't be a good day for the bowlers, however, this is the Vivo IPL and anything is possible over there, and Yuzvendra Chahal has proven it in the past for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. He has been taking wickets consistently at the Chinnaswamy stadium, and has been RCB's highest-wicket taker on multiple occasions in the past. All eyes will be on Chahal and his new partner, Washington Sundar tomorrow.

Prediction for tomorrow's match? Well, predicting anything in the Vivo IPL is impossible, however, I would go with the home team... We shall see RCB winning a very close and a high-scoring encounter tomorrow at Bangalore!

Cheers,

Sparsh