RCB are out of the IPL 2017 and they can now only play for pride and to give their fans something to cheer about. They take on Kings XI Punjab, a side over which they have a slight disadvantage – they have lost to the Punjab team in 11 out of the 19 games played between the two sides.
For Royal Challengers Bangalore, things could not have been worse. This is their worst season of the IPL. They lie eighth in the points table having lost to Mumbai Indians by five wickets, to Rising Pune Supergiant by 61 runs and to Gujarat Lions by seven wickets.
Kings XI Punjab are fifth having beaten Delhi Daredevils by 10 wickets, Sunrisers Hyderabad by 26 runs and Gujarat Lions by 26 runs.
Earlier this season, Kings XI were able to beat RCB quite easily despite a brilliant knock of 89 in just 46 balls from AB de Villiers.
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RCB are expected to play Chris Gayle on top, largely because Travis Head has done virtually nothing for them so far. Shane Watson it seems is well past it.
For Kings XI, Eoin Morgan will be joining England and will not be available. It is not as if Morgan really did anything much for them this season, he did not figure at all.
Now, with only a few games to go for the end of the season Royal Challengers have had only 2 wins from 11 games and have been eliminated from the playoffs. Kings XI have to win four of their next 5 matches to qualify for the playoffs. They could also make it with just 3 wins provided Rising Pune Supergiant lose most of their remaining matches.
Kings XI will go for broke in this match as they have everything to gain. One really cannot expect much from RCB in this season, despite their roster of superstars.
The Teams:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Virat Kohli (capt), 2 Chris Gayle, 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Kedar Jadhav (wk), 5 Shane Watson, 6 Mandeep Singh, 7 Stuart Binny, 8 Pawan Negi, 9 Adam Milne/Samuel Badree, 10 S Aravind, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal
Kings XI Punjab: 1 Hashim Amla, 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Shaun Marsh, 4 Manan Vohra, 5 Glenn Maxwell (capt), 6 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 7 Axar Patel, 8 Sandeep Sharma, 9 Mohit Sharma, 10 Varun Aaron, 11 T Natarajan
Watch Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Kings XI Punjab tonight at 8 pm on Sony Six!
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