IPL 2017 | Preview Match 34 : Rising Pune Supergiant vs Royal Challengers Bangalore
BCCI
Steve Smith’s inform Rising Pune Supergiant will host Virat Kohli’s struggling Royal Challengers Bangalore at the MCA Stadium tonight. The clash will be the second installment of the Kohli-Smith rivalry in the IPL, and with both teams needing points it has all the elements of being a cracker.
RCB are struggling at seventh place and having already played nine games, this is a do-or-die match for last season's runners-up. Pune, on the other hand,
Head to Head:
RCB lead 2-1.
Last Meeting:
RCB lost by 27 runs after having won both times last season. Set a target of 162 at the Chinnaswamy Stadium earlier this month, RCB crumbled after the exit of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.
Form Guide:
RPS: L W W W L
RCB: L W L DÂ L
Although Pune's three-game winning streak was snapped by Kolkata Knight Riders in the previous match, RPS are easily one of the better teams this season. RCB, on the other hand, are on a downward trajectory - after being dismissed for a mere 49 runs by KKR, they were thrashed by seven wickets by Gujarat Lions their last game following a washout against SRH.
Predicted Playing XI:
RCB: Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli (C), AB de Villiers, Mandeep Singh, Kedar Jadhav (wk), Pawan Negi, Shane Watson, Sreenath Aravind, Yuzvendra Chahal, Samuel Badree, Aniket Choudhary.
RPS: Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Tripathi, Steven Smith (C), Faf du Plessis, MS Dhoni (wk), Manoj Tiwary, Daniel Christian, Imran Tahir, Ankit Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Rahul Chahar.
Key Players:
AB de Villiers (RCB):Â The talented South African has had a quiet IPL, having scored just 150 runs of which 89 came in one game. AB will need to contribute a lot more if RCB are to make the playoffs.
Rahul Tripathi (RPS): While this might come as a surprise to many, Tripathi has been one of the key players for the Pune side this season. In six matches, the 26-year-old has scored 216 runs. But it is not the quantity of runs alone that sets him apart, but the strike rate (154.28) that gives the Pune middle order more time to settle down.
Pre-Match Chatter:
You know the RCB batting line-up. Any player in the
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