What

The Royal Challengers Bangalore will come up against Kings XI Punjab for the first time in Pepsi IPL 2015 when the two teams clash in Match 40. RCB are the better of the two teams at this point in the tournament with four wins from nine matches and one additional point from the rained out fixture against the Rajasthan Royals. Kings XI Punjab meanwhile are barely alive in the competition; they have only two wins from nine outing and are at the floor of the table; even winning each of their remaining five matches does not guarantee them a Playoff spot.

In their most-recent outing against the Chennai Super Kings, RCB were in a comfortable position in their chase of 149, before a dramatic collapse saw them let the match slip out from their clutches. In a competition where there is intense competition especially in the middle of the table, RCB will rue that they let an opportunity slip.

For KXIP the need of the hour is for one win. Come match day, it would have been more than two weeks since KXIP’s last win – against Rajasthan Royals which was decided by means of the Super Over. Since then, last year’s runner-up have lost four on the bounce mostly because of the inadequacy on the batting front.

When

06 May 2015, 8p.m. IST

Where

M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

The Protagonists

In Dinesh Karthik, Mandeep Singh, Sarfaraz Khan and David Wiese, RCB have an able support cast with the bat. But, for the team to win matches, they will need one of Chris Gayle, skipper Virat Kohli or AB de Villiers to fire big. The captain in particular will be annoyed with the result in the previous match; until he was out there, his team was well in control of the run-chase. But post his dismissal, RCB lost six wickets for 27 runs to be bowled out for 124. Given how aggressively Kohli plays his cricket, he will be keen to ensure that doesn’t happen yet again.

KXP need one inspirational performance. The earlier that performance comes from – either with the bat or ball – the better for the team. One of the big three – Virender Sehwag, Glenn Maxwell or David Miller - needs to play a whirlwind kind of innings, and one of the bowlers needs to come up with a ruthless, devastating kind of spell and raze the opposition down.

Contests to look-forward to

KXIP’s Sandeep Sharma got the scalps of the explosive Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli in both matches in Pepsi IPL 2014. It will be interesting to see how the two RCB batsmen fare against the 21-year old this time around.

Previous Meetings

Kings XI Punjab have a huge psychological edge over Royal Challengers Bangalore where previous contests between the two teams are concerned. KXIP have won 9 of the 14 matches between the two teams, while RCB have won the remaining five. In matches in Bengaluru too, KXIP have a 4-2 win-loss record against the hosts.

When these two last met – in Bengaluru in Pepsi IPL 2014 – KXIP rode on David Miller’s whirlwind 29-ball 66 to post 198 runs on the board, after which Sandeep Sharma razed down the RCB top order, reducing them to 26 for 3. RCB never recovered from that collapse, and despite AB de Villiers’ 26-ball 53, finished 33 runs short.

Trivia

Kings XI Punjab have the poorest overall scoring rate in Pepsi IPL 2015 – 7.31. In contrast, last season KXIP had the best overall scoring rate – 9.09.

Though KXIP have played one match fewer than some other teams, they have lost the most wickets in Pepsi IPL 2015 – 68.

70.50% runs scored off the bat in Pepsi IPL 2015 matches at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru have been through fours and sixes; that’s the highest percentage of runs scored through boundaries at all the venues which have played host to Pepsi IPL 2015 matches.

Off the 11 wickets Mitchell Starc has picked up in Pepsi IPL 2015, 6 have been ‘Bowled’ dismissals and one other wicket has been by means of ‘LBW’.

What Next

Royal Challengers Bangalore’s next clash will be against the Mumbai Indians, scheduled at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on May 10. Kings XI Punjab meanwhile head to Kolkata to take on the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders on May 9.