The Cricketer takes a look at the next fixture in the 2022 Indian Premier League season.
Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League
The match will be played Friday, May 13 with play starting at 7.30pm local time (3pm GMT).
The teams will face off at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.
Three losses in their last five games has left Punjab Kings playing catch up in the race for qualification. RCB, too, seem to be slipping just as the teams below them are making late charges. They were on a three-match losing streak before coming good again in their last two.
PBKS captain Mayank Agarwal is due a big score, but he pushed himself down the order in their last game allowing Jonny Bairstow to open alongside Shikhar Dhawan. With overseas batters Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Liam Livingstone in good touch, what PBKS need is for their lower-middle order, which might now include Agarwal, to come good.
If they hold up their end of the bargain, there's enough skill between Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh and others to realistically trouble RCB through the 20 overs.
RCB had been on a similarly inconsistent run of form, losing three in a row themselves, before bouncing back into playoff contention with victories over Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
They put on 173 for 8 against CSK and with the help of Harshal Patel restricted CSK to 160 for 8 - winning by 13 runs. They then thrashed SRH by 67, thanks to 73* from Faf du Plessis and 5 for 18 from Wanindu Hasaranga.
Mayank Agarwal [Ryan Pierse/Getty Images]
Dinesh Karthik has had a remarkable IPL season – he has scored 274 runs with a strike rate of 200. Only one man in the history of the IPL – Andre Russell in 2019 – has scored as many runs as Karthik in 2022, at a faster rate.
Elsewhere, the battle between hard-hitting Livingstone and Rajapaksa and RR’s spin-twins – Maxwell and Hasaranga – will be the most watchable encounter of the afternoon. Expect fireworks and skilful bowling aplenty.
Matches played: 29
Rajasthan Royals wins: 16
Punjab Kings wins: 13
A warm day is expected in Mumbai, with highs of 32 degrees Celsius, falling to 30 degrees by the first ball of the match.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, Faf du Plessis, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat, Shahbaz Ahamad, Akash Deep, Josh Hazlewood, Mahipal Lomror, Finn Allen, Sherfane Rutherford, Jason Behrendorff, Suyash Prabhudessai, Chama Milind, Aneeshwar Gautam, Karn Sharma, Siddharth Kaul, Luvnith Sisodia (injury replacement: Rajat Patidar), David Willey
Punjab Kings: Mayank Agarwal, Arshdeep Singh, Shikhar Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada, Jonny Bairstow, Rahul Chahar, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Ishan Porel, Liam Livingstone, Odean Smith, Sandeep Sharma, Raj Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Prerak Mankad, Vaibhav Arora, Writtick Chatterjee, Baltej Dhanda, Ansh Patel, Nathan Ellis, Atharva Taide, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Benny Howell
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis (c), Anuj Rawat, Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Suyash Prabhudessai, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Josh Hazelwood, Mohammed Siraj.
Punjab Kings: Jonny Bairstow, Shikhar Dhawan, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Liam Livingstone, Mayank Agarwal (c), Jitesh Sharma, Rishi Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Sandeep Sharma.
Liam Livingstone [screengrab/BCCI]
The bookies make Royal Challengers Bangalore favourites for this match with 4/5 odds. PBKS are 11/10 to win tomorrow.
Predicting the outcome of Punjab Kings’ matches this season has been tough – they fluctuate from brilliant to plain bad from game to game. RCB’s consistency and Karthik’s remarkable finishing ability just nudges them into the favourites spot. A win for them will all but confirms their place in the play-offs.
In the UK, Sky Sports have exclusive rights to this year's tournament, with matches available on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Cricket.
Fans in India can watch all of the action on Star Sports.
Elsewhere in the world, viewers in Australia can watch the IPL on Fox Sports while in New Zealand, Sky Sport will provide coverage.
Willow TV and Flow Sports will broadcast the tournament in the United States and the Caribbean, respectively.
Fans in MENA can catch the action on beIN Sports while in South Africa, SuperSport have the rights.
The IPL can also be streamed on Disney+ and Hotstar in certain areas.
Welcome to www.thecricketer.com - the online home of the world’s oldest cricket magazine. Breaking news, interviews, opinion and cricket goodness from every corner of our beautiful sport, from village green to national arena.