The first punches traded, and the frayed nerves eased, IPL 2024 moves deeper as all the teams have completed their first matches and they get ready for the next round.
Royal Challengers Bangalore will host Punjab Kings at the Chinnaswamy stadium on Monday.
RCB would like to get over the drubbing they received from their bete noire Chennai Super Kings and launch a serious challenge to Punjab Kings who are travelling with full two points in their bag after their comfortable win against Delhi.
RCB carries the same batting problem that has troubled the side over the years. Their batting is top-heavy and depends too much on Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell. When they don’t perform exceptionally well, RCB struggles. RCB scored 173 which against a strong CSK proved below par. Despite this, RCB is likely to stick with the same batting combination. The side will however need to relook the bowling combination as on the flat deck of Bengaluru RCB would like to prevent run leakage in the death overs. Alzarri Joseph who conceded 38 runs without taking any wickets may have to sit out for Lockie Ferguson.
On the other hand, Punjab do not have such worries. However, they may still make one change and bring in Prabhsimran Singh in place of Shashank Singh in the squad. Prabhsimran Singh came as the impact sub and made a vital contribution of 26 in 17 balls in the tie against Delhi. Punjab would also hope that Johny Bairstow and Shikhar Dhawan stay a little bit longer and exploit the batting conditions in Bengaluru. Though Harshal Patel leaked runs more than 11 per over, he is likely to retain his place and bolster Punjab’s death bowling.
RCB likely XI:
Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (C), Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Anuj Rawat (WK), Dinesh Karthik, Karn Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Mayank Dagar, Lockie Ferguson
PBKS likely XI:
Shikhar Dhawan (C), Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Prabhsimran Singh, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh.
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