Mohali: With eyes firmly set on a play-off berth, Royals Challengers Bangalore will start as overwhelming favourites against bottom-placed Kings XI Punjab in an Indian Premier League cricket match here tomorrow.
RCB would settle for nothing less than a win tomorrow which will not only enable them get past fourth-place Rajasthan Royals but also give a boost to their chances of progressing to the play-off stage.
RCB is presently lying at the fifth spot with 13 points from 11 games, while Kings XI are out of play-off reckoning with just four points 12 matches.
Having thrashed Kings XI by a huge 138-run margin in their previous meeting in Bangalore, RCB would definitely fancy their chances against the struggling hosts.
A star-studded RCB have strong a batting line up in the form of dangerous Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers and skipper Virat Kohli.
RCB has two batsmen in top five highest run getters list in De Villiers (436 runs) and Kohli (417). Gayle too is not far behind and is seventh in the chart, amassing 370 runs.
In fact, besides Chennai Super Kings’ Brendon McCullum Gayle and De Villiers are the only other two batsmen to have struck centuries in the ongoing edition of the tournament.
While Gayle smashed 117 off just 57 balls against Kings XI in their previous meeting, De Villiers clobbered Mumbai Indians bowlers to all parts of the ground to score an unbeaten 133 off just 59 balls in RCB’s 39-run win on Sunday.
And going by the form of RCB’s batsmen, things look ominous for Kings XI tomorrow.
PTI
