An action-packed weekend of the 2023 Indian Premier League is on the cards as a double-header matchday will be taking place this Thursday.
Royal Challengers Bangalore led by Captain Fantastic Faf will be travelling to the far north to get back to the winning pathway. RCB will be summoned by the Punjab Kings side at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in the heart of Mohali in Match 27 of Season 16.
Shikhar Dhawan who missed Punjab’s recent fixture with Lucknow Super Giants is likely to remain out of action for furthermore games owing to his shoulder injury. The explosive English batter Liam Livingstone has joined the Kings’ Squad in preparations for his first game of the season. The Vidarbha youngster Atharva Taide got out on a duck in his IPL debut and is likely to be dropped so that Livingstone can open the innings with Prabhsimran.
The RCB gaffer Sanjay Bangar and the company is likely to make multiple changes ahead of the Mohali battle as they may reshuffle their batting order as well. Suyash Prabhudessai played an impressive cameo as an impact player against CSK and is expected to get the nod ahead of Mahipal Lomror to bat up in the order.
Meanwhile, a forgettable outing for the local lad Vyshak Vijayakumar who spent 62 runs from his four-over quota may force the team management to opt for Akash Deep as a domestic supporting pacer in the eleven.
What have they done so far?
Punjab commenced their Season 16 journey with thumping triumphs over the heavyweights Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals and remains the only team to defeat RR in this edition till now.
Two in two wins in the opening two fixtures were followed by consecutive losses where the Kings’ batting unit stumbled upon the first innings and then failed to defend the low total. However, the Mohali-based franchise bounced back in the very next game to stun the northern counterparts Lucknow Super Giants in the absence of the first-choice skipper Shikhar Dhawan by 2 wickets.
On the other hand, RCB also kick-started their 16th successive campaign at the Indian top-flight league with a convincing victory against the arch-rivals Mumbai Indians.
Yet another night when RCB fell short of victory from the shortest distance
Unfortunately, the Karnataka Reds couldn’t sustain further the winning momentum and went on to lose three of their following four fixtures with one of them being the match against LSG where RCB failed to defend a mammoth total of 212 runs. The most recent defeat was at hands of the Southern rivals Chennai Super Kings where the Royal Challengers bravely fought against the mammoth target of 227 to eventually fall short of just 8 runs.
Head to Head record
These two battling franchises were the founding members of the grandest T20 league and have a history of combating each other since 2008. The Kings are leading the head-to-head record of this rivalry after winning 17 out of 30 encounters while Bangalore stands with only 13 victories under their crest.
Despite not being able to claim the prestigious trophy in 15 seasons, they have still delivered numerous glorious moments which will be written down in the history pages of IPL. David Miller’s only IPL hundred came against RCB when he played an incredible knock of unbeaten 101 from 38 balls to pull off one of the greatest comebacks of this league.
Three years later, Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle ran a rampage against the PBKS bowlers at Chinnaswamy Stadium to post a humongous total of 202 within 15 overs in order to qualify for the playoffs.
We witnessed two chapters of the Red Derby in the previous edition where the results of both encounters went in the favor of Punjab. PBKS registered a massive 54-run triumph to keep themselves alive in the playoff race but eventually lost the qualification ticket to the Royal Challengers.
Key Players
Curran cashed on the golden opportunity to lead the PBKS side
Sam Curran: A shoulder injury to the Punjab captain Shikhar Dhawan made way for the English all-rounder to step out as a captain for the first time across all formats of cricket.
The 24-year-old led the Kings’ Squad by setting an example for others after playing an instrumental role in restricting the LSG to 159 in the first innings. Curran picked two wickets and gave away only 12 runs in his final two overs and also became the first player to register a three-wicket haul on his IPL captaincy debut.
Glenn Maxwell: The ‘Big Show’ who once used to play chartbuster knocks for Punjab now dons the Red and Black kits of Namma Bengaluru with pride. Maxwell has received very few chances to showcase his power-hitting skills but has not upset his fans whenever he got the opportunity with the willow.
The 34-year-old Aussie talisman kept the hopes of RCBians high for the run-chase until he departed from the battlefield in the 13th over when CSK swung the entire game.
Predicted XIs
Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh, Liam Livingstone, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Sikandar Raza, Sam Curran ©, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh, Rahul Chahar
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis ©, Suyash Prabhudessai, Glenn Maxwell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Wayne Parnell, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj
Prediction
Toss is going to play an important factor at this venue as both teams may want to avoid coming out to bat in the scorching heat of Mohali. Punjab will be turning up for this contest as favorites after having home advantage, head-to-head record and current form aspects in their favor.
However, the Karnataka Reds are still equipped with more on-paper strength after accommodating many star players who can turn the tides on their own under any circumstances.