Punjab Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, 3rd Match

The Royal Challengers Bangalore are ready to take on the Punjab Kings in 3rd match of the IPL at the Dr DY Patil Stadium. RCB have a new leader in Faf du Plessis and PBKS will also be led by a new captain in Mayank Agarwal. RCB has made 2 consecutive playoffs since Mike Hesson took over while PBKS are yet to nail the final 4 spots since 2014.
RCB have a balanced looking bowling attack with Siraj and Hazlewood in powerplay and Harshal at death. Spin department will be taken care of by their biggest buy Hasaranga, Shabaz and Glenn Maxwell. RCB lack a trusted off-spinner. Mahipal Lomror has a big role to play as a left hander in the middle overs tackling spin.

In addition to roping in heavyweights like Bairstow, Rabada, Dhawan and Livingstone, PBKS have done a brilliant job in building a squad of talented uncapped players.
Atharva Taide is an explosive opening batsman for Vidharbha. He scored 270 runs at a strike rate of 137 in SMAT.
Harpreet Brar became the talking point of IPL when he dismissed de Villiers, Kohli and Maxell on debut.
Arshadeep SIngh has picked up 27 wickets in his 2 seasons at the franchise.
Raj Angad Bawa took a 5-wicket haul in the U19 World Cup Final.

Team News

RCB: Glenn Maxwell and Josh Hazlewood are unavailable for the 1st game.
PBKS: Jonny Bairstow and Nathan Ellis are currently on national duty. Kagiso Rababa might miss the 1st game due to quarantine.

Venue

IPL is returning to DY Patil Staduim after 2010

-Record at DY Patil Staduim
RCB: Played 2, Won 1, Lost 1
PBKS: Played 1 , Won 0, Lost 1

-Average Total batting 1st: 146.6
-Average Total while chasing: 136.3
-Overall: 141.5
-Highest total: 190 by DC vs PWI in 2011

Probable XI

Punjab Kings

Mayank Agarwal(c), Shikhar Dhawan, Bhanuka Rajpakse, PrabhSimran Singh, Liam Livingstone, Shahrukh Khan, Odean Smith, Harpreet Brar, Benny Howell, Rahul Chahar/Sandeep Sharma, Arshdeep Singh,

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Faf du Plessis (c), Anuj Rawat, Virat Kohli, Mahipal Lomror, Sherfane Rutherford, Dinesh Karthik, David Willey, Wanindu Hasaranga, Shahbaz Ahmed, Harshal Patel, Mohammad Siraj.

Head to Head

Overall: PBKS leadS by 15-13
Batting 1st: RCB lead by 7-6
Batting 2nd: PBKS leads by 9-6

Match Ups

Shikhar vs Harshal: 33/1 at 118 SR
Faf vs Harpreet Brar: 31/0 at 114 SR
Fav vs Arshadeep: 30/0 at 157 SR
Shikhar vs Siraj: 28/1 at 121 SR
Kohli vs Rabada: 25/2 at 113 SR

Kohli vs Sandeep: 73/7 at 132 SR
Karthik vs Chahar: 9/2
Karthik vs Rabada: 14/3
Faf vs Rabada: 16/2

Form Update
(Last IPL season)

Key Players

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Faf du Plessis: He had a prolific last season with 633 runs and played a lion's share in CSK winning the final match. RCB would expect him to repeat his last season heroics at the top of the order. 1147 runs at a SR of 147 are his nos against pace in the last 4 seasons.

Wanindu Hasaranga: This all rounder from Sl was RCB's most expensive buy in the auctions. He is one of the most difficult bowlers to play in t20 cricket currently and is also a very handy middle order batter. He has 57 wkts from 35 matches at an eco of 6.39 in t20is. Yuzi Chahal performed the role of the lead spinner to perfection for 8 years and RCB would be hoping the same from Hasaranga.

Virat Kohli: Its been 2 seasons Virat Kohli has been relatively quit with the bat. Though he has been posting 400+ run seasons, he hasn't been THE Virat Kohli we have seen all these years. His nos against spin have nosedived and his SR outside PP has been a major concern. With Captaincy relinquished we might just see the Old Virat Kohli back.

Mohammad Siraj: Mohammad Siraj is the most improved bowler in the past 2 years with an economy of 8.2 at the death. His powerplay numbers are even more impressive with 11 wickets at 6.6 economy.

Harshal Patel: He is RCB's 3rd highest wicket taker. Harshal 1st played for RCB in 2012 but he had his 1st breakout season in 2015 where he took 17 wkts. In a transfer deal, RCB got him from Delhi last season and entrusted him to bowl at the death. Harshal exceded everyone's expectations and took the joint most wkts in a single edition (32). He gets more dip than other bowlers which is the main reason his slower balls are difficult to put away.

Punjab Kings

Mayank Agarwal: 865 runs at a SR of 147 in the last 2 editions. No batter scored more runs than him at a better SR.

Shikhar Dhawan: Since his switch to Delhi in 2019, Dhawan has recorded over 1700 runs in the last 3 editions thus making him one of the most consistent players in the league.

Shahrukh Khan: PBKS biggest buy was Tamil Nadu all-rounder Shahrukh Khan. He was expected to fetch huge sum just like he did last year. His last-ball heroics against Karnataka in SMAT Final is just a glimpse of his talent and skills. He has started the current Ranji Trophy season with a 100 which is a really good sign for the franchise.

Liam Livingstone: He had a tough outing last year with an average of just over 8 in 5 games. Liam was the highest scorer in The Hundred with 348 runs. He scored England's fastest ever international century when he reached the milestone from just 42 balls against Pakistan at Trent Bridge.

Arshadeep Singh: 18 wkts at an eco of 8.3 in last season.

Fantasy XI