Kings XI Punjab is going against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. KXIP’s side looks more like an RCB 2.0. They have Chris Gayle, Lokesh Rahul, Mandeep Singh, and Sarfaraz Khan who have played for RCB in the past. Also, Mayank Agarwal is also from Bangalore.
This midseason drama of who will qualify and who will not make IPL more interesting. Teams which were looking good in the first half of the league are placed in the bottom four, while some of the teams have improved their game and are in the top four. Players from Australia and England are set to play their final games this week. After they become unavailable, teams will need to change their strategy for the rest of the games.
RCB after losing 6 straight games have won 3 out of their last 4 games. Their qualification in the playoffs looks doubtful as they need to win every single game now. If they manage to do so then also they will have 14 points only and then Net Run Rate will determine their fate. The arrival of Dale Styen has given fresh hope to the RCB camp. A team which had nothing in control found a way to win matches. Players other than Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers are contributing to the team. They have their fair share of weaknesses now also. But the task in hand is to just focus on playing some quality cricket.
KXIP’s batsmen are in good form right from the start of the league. They have won games after games due to their batting. Their bowling has looked a bit off many times in the 10 games that they have played.
The wicket at Chinnaswamy favors batsmen a lot. The key would be to bowl first after winning the toss.
