The IPL caravan now moves to the Garden City, Bengaluru, which will witness the Royal Challengers Bangalore feature in front of the fanatic Chinnaswamy fans for the first time in the tournament.
Virat Kohli-led RCB side is coming off a defeat and would now be looking to register themselves on the points table.
Interestingly, their opponents, Kings XI Punjab has a greater contingent of Karnataka players with the likes of Rahul, Mayank Agarwal and Karun Nair. Let us look at the predicted XI of RCB.
Brendon McCullum
RCB boasts of the best top four in the tournament featuring greats from four different countries.
Baz and de Kock will ensure that RCB scores at an electric rate during powerplays and beyond.
McCullum scored a lightning 27-ball 43 against KKR to show no signs of rust even after taking retirement internationally.
Quinton de Kock
De Kock missed out on the match against Knight Riders last Sunday. But one should not underestimate the class and abilities of the South African.
The best wicketkeeper-batsman shredded off his torrid form against Australia. Now the southpaw would be raring to go to make the crowd at Chinnaswamy his own.
Proteas ace, de Kock, will have sweet memories of Chinnaswamy where he scored the solitary ton in IPL career back in 2016 edition while playing for Daredevils.
Virat Kohli
The rustiness in Kohli was pretty much visible during his sluggish knock of 31 which came off 33 balls. Just when he was looking to step up with a couple of hits to the fence, Kohli was beaten by a beauty by Rana.
Virat Kohli will be the star of the show at Bengaluru which hosts its first game this season. Therefore, VK would hope he ends up on the winning side to reward his beloved crowd.
AB de Villiers
AB de Villiers will be the second most loved person on the ground. De Villiers scored a free-flowing 23-ball 44 which consisted of five whopping maximums.
Unfortunately, AB’s knock was curtailed as he fell victim to Rana’s match-changing over where he picked up the two priced scalps on subsequent deliveries.
Sarfaraz Khan
Sarfaraz Khan was disappointing as clearly he too looked short of game time behind him. Both Mandeep and Sarfraz had the perfect opportunity to finish the job for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The third retained player for RCB only scored 6 off 10 deliveries before holding out to Rinku Singh at mid on.
Mandeep Singh
RCB managed to post a competitive score of 176 only due to the sparkling knock from Mandeep Singh. The Punjab stalwart scored a quickfire 18-ball 37 which gave the bowlers enough to defend with.
Mandeep scored four boundaries and two sixes during his knock which came at a strike rate of over 200. Unfortunately, Mandeep lacked support at the other end.
Chris Woakes
Chris Woakes was the pick of the bowlers for Royal Challengers Bangalore as he ended up with three wickets. Kohli would dearly want his economy to go down as well as chip in with a few hits down the order.
Washington Sundar
Washington Sundar had an off day at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on his debut for RCB. Sundar, who was the man of the series in the recently concluded Nidahas Trophy, went for almost 50 runs in his spell.
Additionally, nothing went right for him in the field as he dropped a crucial catch while fielding. Sundar would have his task cut out to contain the powerful KXIP lineup at the small ground of Bengaluru.
Umesh Yadav
Perhaps frustrated by not having an opportunity to bowl in South Africa, Umesh Yadav made a statement to his skipper Virat Kohli for making him warm the benches.
Umesh was fast and furious, almost unplayable in his quota of overs where he changed the game with a couple of wickets and conceding a shade over six runs per over.
Yuzvendra Chahal
Chahal was bowled during the powerplays as he faced the wrath of Lynn and Narine. Chahal would look to perform in front of his beloved crowd at Bengaluru.
Kulwant Khejroliya
Together with Umesh Yadav, Kulwant Khejroliya forms an enviable pace battery amongst Indian nationality. The left armer impressed one and all with his pace and bounce.
Picture Credits: IPLT20.com
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