 Two teams crucially vying for more points will come head to head on Wednesday,
with Royal Challengers Bangalore slated to take on Kings XI Punjab. The
match will give the winner an opportunity to sneak into the top four at a critical
juncture in the fifth season.
Kings XI Punjab have recovered well from a poor start but their eight points from
nine matches still see them in second-from-bottom spot on the points table. In
their last match, they managed to eke out Chennai Super Kings by seven runs in
a hard-fought encounter.
Click for Live Score Card of Bangalore Royal Challengers Vs Mohali Punjab Kings
The courage and resilience shown by the team will be exactly what stand-in
captain David Hussey will be looking for yet again. Mandeep Singh and
Shaun Marsh contributed respectably with the bat while the team also has the
services of all-rounder Azhar Mahmood who can come in handy, like he did with
his three-wicket haul against Chennai. Piyush Chawla has been the pick
of the bowlers as his wrist spin has been difficult to score freely of.
Royal Challengers Bangalore are middle of the table in fifth position, having
earned nine points from as many matches. They will however need to lift their
game drastically after a crushing 47-run defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders. Their
bowlers looked out of sorts while the batsmen could never cut loose although Chris Gayle scored 86.
Plenty will depend on AB de Villiers' success with the bat while the bowlers
overall need to get their act right. Daniel Vettori will be discussing
plans and team combinations in order to repeat their win against Kings XI
Punjab earlier in the season. In that match, Gayle and de Villiers scored
half-centuries while Zaheer Khan and Andrew McDonald chipped in with wickets.
The match will be played at the Chinaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, starting at 8.00pm.
|
