IPL 2017 | Match 31 Preview: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Gujarat Lions

04/26/2017

Last season's runners-up Royal Challengers Bangalore will host an out-of-form Gujarat Lions tonight with the star-studded home side needing to win all their remaining games in order to qualify for the playoffs. Bottom-placed Gujarat, meanwhile, will look to get back to winnings ways.

Batting-heavy RCB collapsed for a meager 49 against KKR at the Eden, the lowest total in IPL history. The only positive that the side could draw out of that game was the bowling of Pawan Negi and Yuzvendra Chahal who used the slow strip to their fullest to restrict KKR to 131. The batting guns of RCB need to fire now on if the side is to advance.

Gujarat have lost five out of their seven games. No one has brought the much-needed consistency to the Gujarat batting lineup. The bowling, in general, has not been on par with the tournament standards. Ravindra Jadeja is yet to fire with ball or bat and Praveen Kumar is lacking the swing he is known for. Basil Thampi, however, has impressed with his death overs display.

Head to Head:

RCB have won two out of three.

Last Meeting:

RCB rode on a Chris Gayle blitzkrieg to post 213. Gujarat battled hard but went down by 21 runs.

Fan Predictions:

As part of the preview, we bring to you fan predictions for the talking points of the ame. The predictions are sourced from the newest fantasy game on the block – Nostragamus. If you want to make your predictions and win prizes, click here.

Who will win?

Both teams are currently struggling, with Gujarat managing wins only against Pune and Kolkata, and Bangalore winning against Gujarat and Delhi. The only reason Bangalore are ahead in the table is because the match against SRH was washed out. In the 4 matches that RCB have played against GL, they have won 3. The toss and rains will, of course, play an important role, but given the smaller size of Chinnaswamy, the hitting strength of Gayle, Kohil and ABD, and that Gujarat's biggest hitter, McCullum, is known to struggle against spinners, we will go with home advantage and predict a Royal Challengers Bangalore victory.

Fans verdict: The fans agree, with 77% predicting a Bangalore victory.

Who will hit more sixes?

A: Chris Gayle B: Brendon McCullum

IPL 2017 on its own paints the picture in a different light to IPL overall. In this season, Gayle has hit 11 sixes in 5 games while McCullum has smashed 16 in 7. In the IPL overall, Gayle has cleared the ropes in grand style a massive 262 times in 97 games, while McCullum has done the same 122 times in 99 games. For the 2 struggling teams, these 2 main men have to hit, and hit big, for their respective teams to have a chance at victory, McCullum more so than Gayle. But McCullum simply has a harder bowling unit to deal with, and home advantage just may see Gayle doing the honours in this match, and that's our prediction.

Fans verdict: For the fans, Gayle simply isn't in good enough form, with only 44% plumping for him in this category.

Predicted XI:

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (C), Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Mandeep Singh, Kedar Jadhav (wk), Stuart Binny, Pawan Negi, Tymal Mills, Samuel Badree, Sreenath Aravind, Yuzvendra Chahal

Gujarat Lions: Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch, Suresh Raina (C), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, James Faulkner, Irfan Pathan, Andrew Tye, Basil Thampi, Shubham Agarwal, Nathu Singh

Key Players:

Yuzvendra Chahal (RCB): The leg break bowler has been RCB's leading wicket taker this season and is the key for RCB against a struggling Gujarat batting lineup.

Suresh Raina (GL): Gujarat side will need the skipper to explode in order to overcome batting-heavy RCB.

Time: 8 PM

Venue: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

TV Listings: Sony Six HD, Sony Six, Set Max, Sony ESPN