IPL 2019: Match 42, RCB vs KXIP Match Prediction: Who will win today's match?
This is going to be a very fascinating encounter at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) face Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in a high-octane clash. KXIP have quite a few former RCB and Karnataka players in their side which sets it up nicely. Moreover, Chris Gayle will be returning to a ground where he’s scored tons and tons of runs for almost seven years.
RCB registered back to back wins for the first time in this season and now have a real chance of moving off that last position. A win over KXIP will help them move to the 7th position (with 8 points) and just behind Kolkata Knight Riders on net run rate. They’ve had a couple of real scares and if they hadn’t held their nerves, they would still be reeling with just two points. Against KKR, Andre Russell almost pulled off a miraculous win and if not for Umesh Yadav’s well-thought slower delivery, MS Dhoni would’ve taken CSK home. However, RCB will be happy with the wins and will be high on confidence.
Meanwhile, KXIP have not really gathered momentum in this tournament. They have five wins and five losses and are placed fifth on the points table. They have not won more than two games in a row and they suffered a narrow loss against Delhi Capitals in the last game. Hence, they will be hoping to bounce back well.
The last time these two sides met, RCB emerged victorious and registered their first points of the season.
If RCB bat first:
The RCB batting has come along nicely in the last few games. Virat Kohli has been in terrific form but he missed out in the last game. AB de Villiers has done well too. Both the stars have amassed in excess of 300 runs so far in this season. Meanwhile, Parthiv Patel has stepped up nicely when the team needed someone to bat long and the two big stars failed. Moreover, Moeen Ali has been hitting the ball really well while Marcus Stoinis has been in good touch as well.
Hence, with the RCB batting gelling well together, they may well score in excess of 180 if they bat first on what is expected to be a good batting track at the Chinnaswamy.
KXIP bat first:
KXIP have relied a lot on their top-order to do the bulk of the scoring. KL Rahul and Chris Gayle have been the major contributors and if they fail, KXIP have tended to fall apart. Mayank Agarwal has blown hot and cold this season while David Miller has done well in a couple of innings so far. Sam Curran has not really come to the party with the bat. Meanwhile, Mandeep Singh has registered six not outs, amassing 125 runs in nine innings.
Hence, while the batting looks solid on paper, the KXIP middle-order needs to really step up the gas. They could score 175 or more if they bat first and if the top-order gets going, we could be in for a huge score.
Match Prediction
These are two teams with some of the biggest T20 stars in world cricket. It could really turn out to be a high scoring affair with the pitch expected to be on the flatter side and the boundaries being small. However, the arrival of Dale Steyn has infused life into the RCB bowling attack. Hence, RCB may just pip KXIP to make it three wins in a row.
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