What

Royal Challengers Bangalore will be keen to open their account in VIVO IPL 2018 when they take on Kings XI Punjab in Match 8. In their season opener, RCB recovered to 176-7 – still about 20 runs short on a good batting surface at the Eden Gardens. Not surprisingly, they lost the match – KKR got the runs quite easily. RCB got a few tactics wrong in that match and they will not want to repeat those mistakes; captain Virat Kohli could have avoided using Yuzvendra Chahal to open the bowling, the leg-spinner’s fourth over was unused, and the team could have sent Mandeep Singh to bat ahead of Sarfaraz Khan.

Kings XI Punjab will be upbeat after their win against Delhi Daredevils. KXIP’s chase of 167 was powered by KL Rahul, who scored the fastest half-century in the IPL. Despite that blitz by Rahul, KXIP still only meandered to a win, when they should have cruised past the finish line. Despite that win, it is expected that KXIP will make a change or two – primarily to accommodate Aaron Finch. That could mean one of David Milller or Andrew Tye will miss out, and the decision of who misses out could dictate the make-up of the rest of the team. If Miller sits out, it will be a straight overseas batsman for overseas batsman swap; if Tyeis forced to sit on the bench, it could mean one Indian batsman will be forced to sit out so the team can bring in another Indian bowler.

When

13 April 2018, 2000Hrs (IST)

Where

M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

Impact Batsmen

Brendon McCullum, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers are the three batsman capable of destroying the opposition on their day in the RCB line-up. Between them, the trio hasan aggregate of 22374 runs and 14 hundreds in T20 cricket. Each of the three have a liking for the Chinnaswamy Stadium surface too; so expect them to light up the stadium on Friday night.

KL Rahul has set expectations with his 14-ball half-century in the opener; he will be keen to take toll of the short boundaries at the venue he should know like the back of his palm. KXIP have been boosted by the arrival of Aaron Finch, who has joined up the team after his wedding. Karun Nair is the other in-form batsman in the KXIP line-up, and the team would do well to send him to bat at three. Then there’s Chris Gayle, who has over the years destroyed several bowling attacks at the Chinnaswamy Stadium and will be itching to get a hit; will KXIP be tempted to play him at his former home ground?

Impact Bowlers

There have been very few bowlers who have cracked the formula to succeed at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Yuzvendra Chahal, one of those few,is unafraid to toss the ball up, even when he runs in to bowl after being hit for a boundary, and hence the success; the leg-spinner has picked up 35 wickets in the 27 IPL matches he has played at the venue. Umesh Yadav impressed in the opening game, and he will be expected to keep the lids on the KXIP batsmen.

KXIP will want their two spinners – one with a bagful of variations and the other a mystery spinner – to stamp their authority on the RCB batsmen. In the opening game, Ravichandran Ashwin, who marshalled his resources brilliantly, showed that he had developed good control over the leg-breaks and got the landing right too. Batsmen have found Afghanistan’s Mujeeb ur Rahman extremely difficult to pick; the teenager had a memorable IPL debut, dismissing two dangerous strikers – Colin Munro and Rishabh Pant. Can he hold his own and come up trumps against RCB’s formidable top-order?

Team Head to Head

Overall: Matches – 20, Royal Challengers Bangalore won – 8, Kings XI Punjab won – 12

Last season, KXIP prevailed in both their matches against RCB. In the first meeting in Indore, Hashim Amla and Glenn Maxwell helped KXIP chase down 149 without breaking a sweat; KXIP won by 8 wickets with 5.3 overs to spare. In the second meeting in Bengaluru, KXIP posted a meagre 138-7, but were able to dismiss the hosts for 119. Sandeep Sharma was the star of that contest; he became the first bowler in the IPL to dismiss Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers in the same match.

Trivia

In the context of the IPL, Chris Gayle holds the record for the most runs scored by a batsman against one particular team; he scored 797 against Kings XI Punjab. However, this season, he will be sat in the KXIP dressing room after the franchise signed him up at the IPL Player Auction.

The record for the most runs scored by a batsman at a particular venue lies with Virat Kohli; he has scored 1874 runs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Chris Gayle is second in that list, with an aggregate of 1538 runs at the same venue.

What Next

Both teams will be seen in action next on April 15. First up, in the 4pm match, RCB will play host to the Rajasthan Royals. Later in the evening, Kings XI Punjab will play host to the Chennai Super Kings.