What

Kings XI Punjab will be eyeing their third win of the season when they clash with Royal Challengers Bangalore in Match 50 of Pepsi IPL 2015.

KXIP have had a difficult season. Runners-up last season, KXIP have struggled to find form this season. It has been three weeks since they last won a match – during which period they have lost seven. Their bowling, which served them well in the first couple of weeks in the tournament, too has lost sting recently. On the brighter side of things, the batting has shown spark in the last couple of matches; it is for the first time in the season that KXIP have posted 180-plus matches in consecutive matches.

Royal Challengers Bangalore have played the fewest of all the teams and are in a very good position. They have won six of their eleven matches – with the match against Rajasthan Royals washed out – and stand a chance to finish among the top two teams if they win all their matches and if other results go their way. After a stop-start run in the first few games, RCB have turned on the heat in recent times winning five of their last seven matches (which includes the rained out match against RR). In the last couple of matches in particular, they have batted out their opponents; they blew KXIP away scoring 226-3 in Bengaluru, before posting 235-1 – the highest total of the season – in their most recent match against the Mumbai Indians.

When

13 May 2015, 8p.m. IST

Where

Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali

The Protagonists

This match will feature few of the most destructive batsmen in world cricket. If one were to go about asking bowlers around the world which batsmen they’d dread bowling to, chances are most would come up with the names of Chris Gayle, Glenn Maxwell, David Miller and AB de Villiers. In the last week, each of those four batsmen has played one of their signature knocks; Gayle scored a century against KXIP, Maxwell scored a breezy 43 against the Kolkata Knight Riders, Miller’s stunning 44-ball 89 almost took KXIP home against Sunrisers Hyderabad, while de Villiers posted the highest individual score of the season when he smashed the Mumbai Indians bowlers to all corners of the Wankhede Stadium and helped himself to an unbeaten 133 from 59 balls. Bowlers, and those in the stands, beware!

Previous Meetings

Kings XI Punjab have a 9-6 win-loss record in IPL matches against Royal Challengers Bangalore. The honours are split 2-2 in the four occasions they’ve come up against each other in Mohali.

In the most recent meeting between the two teams – in Bengaluru on 6 May 2015, RCB’s Chris Gayle demolished the visitors. The RCB opener started off scoring just one run off the first over, but thereafter was unstoppable as he smashed the KXIP bowlers to all parts of the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, in the process scoring 117 from 57 balls – decorated with seven fours and twelve sixes. KXIP, deflated by that onslaught, were shot out for 88 – their lowest score in the IPL.

Trivia

RCB have the best scoring rate of all teams in Pepsi IPL 2015; their overall scoring rate this season is 9.35. Kings XI Punjab have the lowest overall scoring rate – 7.56.

Kings XI Punjab have lost the most wickets in Pepsi IPL 2015 – 90. RCB have lost the fewest – 57.

Chris Gayle’s scores, while playing for RCB, in IPL matches against Kings XI Punjab: 107, 0, 87, 71, 61, 77, 20, 4 & 117. He averages 60.44 and has a strike-rate of 174.91 from nine innings.

What Next

Kings XI Punjab will wind up their Pepsi IPL 2015 campaign with a clash against the Chennai Super Kings in Mohali on 16 May 2015. Royal Challengers Bangalore meanwhile head out to Hyderabad to clash with Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 15.