RCB's new era begins with Punjab Kings challenge

Ending the onerous wait, once and for all, the Royal Challengers Bangalore will be all set to kickstart their fifteenth IPL campaign on an idyllic Sunday evening with the latter playing the perfect host to an intense cricketing affair with the newly rechristened Punjab Kings.

Multiple stakes will be on the line for both the teams as they look forward to writing the next chapter of a chequered rivalry that has produced cutthroat numbers to date.

In the preceding edition of the tournament, the two outfits shared the spoils of war as Punjab managed to win the first encounter, thanks to a KL Rahul masterclass with the bat and a magical display from youngster Harpreet Brar with the ball. However, the Challengers bounced back strongly as Maxwell smoked the Kings with a batting storm while Chahal delivered a telling display to cripple the Kings.

The Challengers will be without the likes of their Aussie stars namely Glenn Maxwell, Josh Hazlewood and Jason Behrendorff. However, this shouldn’t deter them as they still boast of a formidable string of players that would star the likes of Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis.

Punjab, on the contrary, has managed to assemble a strong bowling unit that will be riding high on Kagiso Rabada, Ishan Porel and Arshdeep Singh who will be backed by the likes of Jonny Bairstow, Shikhar Dhawan and Mayank Agarwal with the willow.

This will be a star-studded affair as the Royal Challengers Bangalore will also be bringing out their heavy artillery in the form of Finn Allen and David Willey who are pretty renowned names in the circuit of the shortest format of the game.

A lot of eyes will also be focused on another crucial aspect of the contest that will talk about the young guns of both teams. The Royal Challengers have a plethora of young players raring to grab their opportunities. With names like Anuj Rawat, Luvnith Sisodia and Aneeshwar Gautam doing the rounds, Punjab will be eager to see how Shahrukh Khan performs after an excellent domestic season.

Venue watch:

Like the two other Mumbai venues, the DY Patil track also comprises red soil that will be offering additional bounce and carry to the fast bowlers but only in the initial overs. The second half of the game will see some assistance for the spinners due to the enormous erosion that happens to the red soil. Just in case you are looking for additional trivia, the pitch was prepared with professional assistance from South African professors, Neil Tainton and John Klug. This stadium has an equal distribution of wins between the beaters and the chasers as the team batting first has won 41.2 percent of the fixtures while the team chasing has managed to land 58.8 percent wins. The average first innings score is 146 while the second innings score averages a staggering 164. The team batting second may have a slight upper hand.

Rivalries:

Faf du Plessis versus Mayank Agarwal – Both the players are phenomenal strikers of the ball and would weave the magic of the highest order if they get going. Faf has managed to rack up 2935 runs from 100 IPL matches at an excellent strike rate of 131 while his average has been a fine 34.94. Despite a titanic mismatch in terms of international numbers, Mayank Agarwal is an absolute dynamite when it comes to IPL. He was in intimidating form in the precursor edition of the fray and with the onus of leading the team will be hoping yo replicate his success in the preceding years. 

Virat Kohli versus Shikhar Dhawan – Two seasoned national teammates will be going toe-to-toe with each other as the former RCB captain is the only batter to have racked up 6000 plus runs in the tournament’s history. Shikhar Dhawan isn’t far away from the milestone either, as he has managed to amass 5904 runs and very well could be the second player on the list to rack up this astonishing feat.

Mohammed Siraj versus Kagiso Rabada – In a contest of the fast lane, Indian quick Mohammed Siraj will try and take on South African paceman, Kagiso Rabada. The duo has a special knack for timbre and both are capable of conjuring extraordinary speeds that would leave the batters in a spot of bother, especially in the powerplay with the new ball. Siraj comes with an added factor of swing that turns into pace for Rabada.

Squads:

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, Faf du Plessis, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dinesh Karthik, Josh Hazlewood, Shahbaz Ahmed, Anuj Rawat, Akash Deep, Mahipal Lomror, Finn Allen, Sherfane Rutherford, Jason Behrendorff, Suyash Prabhudesai, Chama Milind, Aneeshwar Gautam, Karn Sharma, David Willey, Luvnith Sisodia, Siddharth Kaul.

Punjab Kings:

Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Jonny Bairstow, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Brar, Shahrukh Khan, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Ishan Porel, Liam Livingstone, Odean Smith, Sandeep Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Prerak Mankad, Vaibhav Arora, Writtick Chatterjee, Baltej Dhanda, Ansh Patel, Nathan Ellis, Atharva Taide, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Benny Howell.

Match details:

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Punjab Kings

Venue: D.Y. Patil Stadium

Date: 27th March 2022

Time: 7:30 PM IST