Match No. 43 in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017 will see two sides, who will be desperate for a win, clash against each other. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will face off against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) at their den in Bengaluru on Friday. Sadly for the men in red and black, this season is over while for the men from the land of the green revolution, Kings XI Punjab have an outside chance of making it to the coveted playoffs. This is going to be the second occasion these two sides will clash against each other in IPL 2017.
Both teams clashed in Match. No 8 of IPL 10, where KXIP romped past RCB by 8 wickets. Chasing 149 to win, it was Hashim Amla and Glenn Maxwell who snitched a 72-run stand and handed KXIP their second win of the season. Head-to-head tally stands in favour of KXIP, who have won 10 of the 18 games, while RCB have just won 8. At M Chinnaswamy Stadium, their record stands even at 4 games apiece.
Starting off with the home team, RCB have just not hit form as a unit in this season. Their famed batting unit consisting of Virat Kolhi, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle and Shane Watson has been smothered to nothingness. Every one of them has showed glimpses of their superior self in between RCB’s dreadful run.
Kedar Jadhav too has been out of touch and to tag along, Travis Head and Mandeep Singh are struggling as well. What holds out for them is the bowling unit that has time and again managed to provide some saving grace.
Yuzvendra Chahal and Pawan Negi have been outstanding in this doldrums of a season. Chahal with his spinning prowess has knocked over batsmen, while Negi with his guile has controlled the stem of runs. Kohli’s preferred pace man Aniket Choudhary still looks very raw to perform under pressure situations but has proven to be a handful.
Given KXIP’s thin batting line-up in the middle, RCB would be tempted to replace Head with Samuel Badree, while Stuart Binny could get a look in place of Mandeep Singh.
Likely XI: Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Shane Watson, Travis Head/ Samuel Badree ,Kedar Jadhav (wk), Mandeep Singh/Stuart Binny, Pawan Negi, Adam Milne, Aniket Choudhary, Sreenath Arvind, Yuzvendra Chahal
Kings XI Punjab, on the other hand, are walking on thin-ice when it comes to a qualification spot for the playoffs. KXIP are coming of an imposing 10-wicket win over Delhi Daredevils. Their openers in Martin Guptill and Hashim Amla have both peaked at the right time. Shaun Marsh has always been their go-to batsman across seasons and in IPL 10 has batted with equal might. Middle order in Manan Vohra, Glenn Maxwell and Wriddhiman Saha has been unpleasing to the eye to say the least. Vohra’s 95 against Sunrisers Hyderabad still remain one of the best knocks this season.
KXIP’s bowling unit has delivered almost in every game for them. Sandeep Sharma, Akshar Patel and T Natarajan form a very promising trio. Sandeep in the last match displayed good skills with the ball while Akshar has been their workhorse.
Natarajan has emerged as their most promising potential with the ability to extract raw pace and bounce off any track. Add to the mix Mohit Sharma’s line and length style approach and it makes hard for any opponent to get run off.
Likely XI: Hashim Amla, Manan Vohra, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell (c), Martin Guptill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Axar Patel, Mohit Sharma, Varun Aaron, Sandeep Sharma, Thangarasu Natarajan
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