RCB will certainly gain confidence from the way they chased down 186 goals in their previous outing
Published Date – Sun, 5/21/23 06:40 AM
Bangalore: In the final league game of this IPL, Royal Challengers Bengaluru will know exactly what they need to qualify for the playoffs when they face table-toppers Gujarat Titans here on Sunday.
With batting maestro Virat Kohli back to his absolute best and captain Faf du Plessis leading the season with more than 600 runs, RCB will be hoping their dazzling opening duo shines in a must-win game .
The current fourth-ranked Royal Challengers Bengaluru also have a higher net run rate (NRR) than Mumbai Indians (-0.128), who face Hyderabad Sunrise in their first match on Sunday. and Rajasthan Royals.
As well as playing in front of their beloved home crowd, who will be loudly supporting them on Sunday, another advantage for Du Plessis’ side is their presence in the final game of the league on Sunday night, when RCB will know The result was a duel between MI and SRH in Mumbai.
However, it will mean nothing if they lose to defending champions Gujarat Titans, an unquestionably strong team led admirably by all-round star Hardik Pandya all season long, The payoff is a stage where the league’s top two have a real chance of retaining the title they won in their inaugural season.
While the Gujarat Titans lead the pecking order with 18 points after winning nine games and losing four, RCB are level with MI and RR ahead of the match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Going into the match, both teams had big victories, with GT over Sunrisers Hyderabad by 34 runs and RCB over the 2016 champions by eight wickets, after Kohli’s scintillating 100 per cent, He is sixth in the IPL.
RCB will surely gain confidence from the way they chased down 186 goals in their previous match against SRH, with both Kohli and du Plessis firing. However, given the kind of resources R990231CB’s opponents have and the confidence they carry with them, a match against GT will be an entirely different game.
It will be interesting to see how the trio of Kohli, du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell complete their mission against GT. South African du Plessis, who holds the orange caps for the most points, has amassed 631 points in 13 games so far. He also tops the leaderboard for the most sixes hit (34).
Kohli, meanwhile, is sixth on the top scorer list with 438 points. However, RCB’s over-reliance on Kohli, du Plessis and Maxwell has been a major cause of concern, and if the GT bowlers can make early progress, the visitors will hold the aces. Mohammed Siraj has been a standout bowler for RCB this season and he will once again be tasked with leading their bowling attack alongside Wayne Parnell.
With the ball, they will be up against the likes of in-form Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia and GT skipper Pandya. Like Kohli, Gill, seen as Delhi’s treadmill successor, is about to turn a century and will look to set the tone for RCB.
Veteran campaigners such as Mohammed Shami, Rashid Khan and Mohit Sharma have brought a competitive bowling attack to GT, but their task will be against a team comprising one of the greats of modern football. As far as the weather is concerned, there is a chance of rain, which will not please RCB and their fans.
