What

Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Kings XI Punjab in Match 42 of VIVO IPL 2019.

It was against KXIP that RCB snapped their six-match losing streak and opened their account this season. RCB now have three wins from ten matches; their chances of making the playoffs are a still remote mathematical possibility, but they exist, nonetheless. The equation for RCB is simple – keep winning.

Kings XI Punjab, who had won four of their first six matches, have slipped out of the top half of the table. They’ve won only one of their last four fixtures and desperately need the two points available in this match. This fixture will be their last match this week, and by the time they play their next match at the start of next week, several of the other playoff contenders would have played and could have firmed up their positions. KXIP’s remaining fixtures are against Sunrisers Hyderabad (29 April), Kolkata Knight Riders (3 May) and Chennai Super Kings (5 May).

When

24 April 2019, 8pm IST

Where

M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

Previous Match XIs:

Royal Challengers Bangalore:Parthiv Patel, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Akshdeep Nath, Marcus Stoinis, Moeen Ali, Pawan Negi, Umesh Yadav, Dale Steyn, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini.

Kings XI Punjab:KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, David Miller, Mandeep Singh, Sam Curran, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harpreet Brar, Hardus Viljoen, Murugan Ashwin, Mohammed Shami.

Protagonists

There will be expectations of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers to play another sensational innings everytime they walk out to bat – such is the reputation the two players have built for themselves. It will be no different on Wednesday evening too; the loyal RCB supporters will expect Virat and de Villiers to entertain once again. Two other players who have made a huge impact to RCB’s batting are Parthiv Patel and Moeen Ali. While Parthiv has consistently provided RCB starts – and has taken his game a notch above by converting starts to half-centuries, Moeen has torn apart spinners and provided impetus in the middle overs.

For Kings XI Punjab, the responsibility of piling on the runs clearly lies on the top three. Chris Gayle returns to the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, a venue where he has smashed many a bowling attacks and made him the Universe Boss. The left-hander has tweaked his game and gone back to the way he would play earlier – start attacking from very early in the innings; he has consistently made runs and is KXIP’s top run-getter this season despite missing one match. The Jamaican will be on the wrong side of 40 by time the next IPL comes around, and therefore one cannot predict if he will return to play the venue. The other two batsmen who complete the top three – KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal – have been batting well, and they will be aware the time has come for them to turn in match-winning performances now.

Among the bowlers, Dale Steyn, Yuzvendra Chahal (both RCB) and R Ashwin are the ones to keep a close watch on.

Head to Head in Indian Premier League

Overall: Matches – 23,Royal Challengers Bangalore – 11, Kings XI Punjab - 12

Trivia

Ravichandran Ashwin has bowled 116 deliveries to Virat Kohli, but has not been able to dismiss him even once.

Chris Gayle v Dale Steyn in T20s: Runs Scored – 56, Balls Bowled – 59, Dismissals – 2, Strike Rate – 94.91.

Chris Gayle has scored 421 runs in nine matches this season; the last time he had scored as many runs (or more) in his first nine matches in a season was in 2013 when he amassed 708 runs for RCB.