IPL 2017: GL vs RCB, 5 factors of winning

Both Gujarat Lions and Royal Challengers Bangalore have registered only one win in the tournament so far

The two bottom-placed teams in the IPL Gujarat Lions and Royal Challengers Bangalore lock horns at Rajkot today with both teams needing a win to keep their play-off hopes alive. Both teams will be coming off a defeat in their previous game with Gujarat Lions losing to Mumbai Indians at Mumbai while RCB lost to Rising Pune Supergiants at Bangalore.

This will be the third encounter between both teams who have beaten each other once. Even though their performances have been pretty lackluster this season, both Gujarat Lions and Royal Challengers Bangalore have some quality players in their squads and their match could be a cracking one.

With hours to go, let’s take a look at five winning factors for the GL-RCB encounter.

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#1. With the bat

Gujarat Lions will need their top order to score heavily

Both RCB and Gujarat Lions will be relying on their batsmen to deliver as both teams contain some world-class batsmen in their setup. For RCB, Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle will be the ones they will have to rely on to give them a steady start.

After them, Kedar Jadhav will have to shoulder the responsibilities of getting runs during the latter half of the innings as AB de Villiers has been ruled out of the game due to an injury. The likes of Stuart Binny and Pawan Negi also have the ability to score a few quick runs in the slog overs

Gujarat Lions’ biggest strength is their top order which comprises of the dangerous Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith. Hence, they will have to take them off to a good start, following which Suresh Raina, Aaron Finch, and Dinesh Karthik can be trusted to score heavily in the middle order.

Then, Ravindra Jadeja will be expected to provide a good finishing touch.