IPL 10, Match 20, RCB v GL: Royal Challengers Bangalore Predicted XI

Unlike its usual self, a sluggish Chinnaswamy surface denied crowds a festival of runs, and once again, the home team Royal Challengers Bangalore found themselves on the losing side. The Rising Pune Supergiant quicks did a commendable job to stifle The Royal Challengers Bangalore middle order. Despite the return of two of their gems Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, the fortunes haven’t yet taken a turn for RCB. With four straight defeats, the Royal Challengers Bangalore have now spiralled their way to the bottom of the table, and in turn, to a serious spot of bother.

The bowling hasn’t really been the primary concern for the Royal Challengers. Overseas bowlers have come into the side and picked up wickets. Samuel Badree rocked the Mumbai Indians with his hat trick. Against RPS, New Zealand speedster Adam Milne replaced Tymal Mills. He chipped in with two wickets, including the crucial scalp of Ben Stokes. Sreenath Aravind wasn’t that bad either with figures of 2-29 in his four overs.

Credit must go the RCB bowlers to have restricted Pune to 161. This is a side that includes the free-scoring Rahane and Steve Smith, who’s currently in the form of his life. Don’t forget MS Dhoni, Ben Stokes and Dan Christian, who can effortlessly clear the boundary ropes. Manoj Tiwary is also handy lower down the order, and he showed exactly why he isn’t someone an opposition should underestimate. With 162 to get, everyone would have imagined RCB to canter home with an over to spare, but that wasn’t the case.

First and foremost, lack of form has been a major concern for Gayle and Watson. Mandeep Singh, on the other hand, finds himself floating up and down the batting order. It seems as though the Royal Challengers Bangalore are over-dependent on Kohli and AB to pave the way with sterling knocks, which should allow the other batsmen to chip in with a handful of runs. Nevertheless, when the two big guns have failed to convert their starts into long innings, at least a couple of other batsmen should have stepped up and steadied the ship for RCB. Alas, that hasn’t happened.

A string of defeats and poor performances calls for a serious post-mortem, primarily of the batting line-up. As far as the Royal Challengers Bangalore are concerned, their game against the Gujarat Lions is nothing short of a must-win, before they find themselves buried in this edition of the IPL.

Here’s a look at CricTracker’s predicted XI for the Royal Challengers Bangalore as they take on the Gujarat Lions:

Openers (Travis Head, Virat Kohli)

Virat Kohli has been in good nick with the bat following his return to the side. Kohli has undoubtedly been one of the most successful batsmen at the opening slot in the IPL. His tendency to attack right from the outset forces bowlers to try something different and Kohli is quick to pounce on the loose deliveries. Virat Kohli has been a standard success story of the IPL and his spot as an opener is one that shouldn’t be tampered with.

At the other end, it’s a good idea to bring back Travis Head. The Aussie, who although batted at no.3, looked fluent with the bat in the very first match of this year’s IPL. Quite like Kohli, Head too dominates bowlers with the big shots and puts pressure on the opposition straight away. The Big Bash League has witnessed several stunning knocks from the little man, and it’s time he got an opportunity to do that here as well.

Top order (AB de Villiers, Kedar Jadhav)

RCB’s top order consists of two batsmen who have the ability to suddenly grab the game by the scruff of the neck. Both AB de Villiers and Kedar Jadhav can up the ante at crucial stages and power up their strike rates to wreak havoc at the death. AB has already been amongst the runs for RCB this season and will look to extend his innings like he did in his first game this season.

Although Jadhav has had a quiet couple of matches, he will look to make a statement against an inexperienced Gujarat bowling attack. AB, on the other hand, will focus on staying till the end of the innings so that he can add the flurry of boundaries at the back end.

Middle and lower middle order (Mandeep Singh, Stuart Binny, Pawan Negi)

Domestic talent is always important in an IPL side which requires 7 of the 11 players to be Indians. These three Indians are sure loaded with talent, but they haven’t quite lived up to their tags yet. For a batting-heavy side like RCB, it comes as a surprise that only 3 times have 50+ plus individual scores been registered till now. It will be up to one of these three to come out to the crease and attack from the word go.

Mandeep Singh has had to play the role of the obedient and selfless man who bats at whichever position his team requires him to. Hence, Mandeep hasn’t found a steady spot in the batting order. Nevertheless, no matter where he’s batted, he’s failed to get big runs. Mandeep will surely look to score against the Lions.

Both Stuart Binny and Pawan Negi have what it takes to hit the ball into the stands. The boundaries have however been scarce for these two batsmen. Binny and Negi are very capable all-rounders who can make an impact in both departments. The onus will be on them to justify their spot on the team with a power-packed performance.

Bowlers (Adam Milne, Samuel Badree, Sreenath Aravind, Yuzvendra Chahal)

New Zealand’s Adam Milne was straight-away in business as the speedster impressed with his pace on a slow Bengaluru wicket. Milne was the pick of the bowlers for RCB against the Supergiant, with figures of 2-27 in his quota of four overs. The Kiwi pacer certainly deserves another chance to take the field, as he will take a shot at rattling Gujarat’s strong openers.

Leg-spinners seem to be the talk of this edition of the IPL, and the latest to join the gossip is West Indian Samuel Badree. A leggie whose fast arm action causes problems for batsmen, Badree is one the best leg-spinners in the circuit today. His hat-trick against the Mumbai Indians was a testimony to his marvellous accuracy and his ability to deceive the batsmen.

Following his spectacular performance against England in the 3^rd T20I, it’s been comparatively dull days for Yuzvendra Chahal. He hasn’t quite been amongst the wickets for RCB so far. However, his records in the IPL speak volumes of the talent this youngster hoards.

Sreenath Aravind on the hand has found himself in and out of the playing XI. Lack of consistency has been the theme for many of the RCB players this season, and Aravind also finds himself in this bracket. However, the youngster came back with a good spell against the Rising Pune Supergiant, removing the dangerous Aussies Steve Smith and Dan Christian. He’ll obviously look to cement his place in the side with another impactful four overs against the Lions.