Big picture: Keep an eye on the two sets of fast bowlers
Recent form
Royal Challengers Bengaluru LWWLW (Last five matches, most recent first)
Gujarat Titans LWWWL
The big question
In the spotlight: Jacob Bethell vs Romario Shepherd and Prasidh Krishna
Prasidh Krishna is back on home turf, looking to make amends for a lacklustre showing in the previous game, where he was taken apart in the death overs by Tilak Varma. He returned figures of 1 for 54 off his four overs. Hazlewood has utilised the conditions well at the Chinnaswamy with his hard lengths, something Krishna would have taken note of and is capable to emulating. Krishna’s ten wickets are the most this season in the middle overs, a phase where RCB are the best scoring team. It could be a gripping contest.
Team news
RCB are unlikely to make any changes to their XII unless they have to summon Plan B or they really wanted to throw Bethell into the mix. In which case, Venkatesh Iyer is best-placed to fill in as batting insurance.
RCB: 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Phil Salt, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Rajat Patidar (capt), 5 Tim David, 6 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 7 Romario Shepherd/Jacob Bethell, 8 Krunal Pandya, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Suyash Sharma, 11 Josh Hazlewood, 12 Rasikh Dar
GT: 1 Shubman Gill (capt), 2 B Sai Sudharsan, 3 Jos Buttler (wk), 4 Washington Sundar, 5 Shahrukh Khan/Kumar Kushagra, 6 Jason Holder/Glenn Phillips, 7 Rahul Tewatia, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Mohammed Siraj 11 Prasidh Krishna, 12 Ashok Sharma
Stats and trivia
- Kohli is one away from hitting 300 IPL sixes. Only Chris Gayle and Rohit Sharma have hit more.
- The strike rate of 175 for RCB’s middle order is significantly higher than GT’s 135. While RCB have hit the most sixes by a middle order (34), GT have hit the least (eight).
- With 1928 runs in 46 innings, B Sai Sudharsan could become the fastest to 2000 IPL runs. Gayle touched this landmark in 48 innings.
- Rabada’s seven wickets are the joint-highest (along with Jofra Archer) in the powerplay this season.
Pitch and conditions
The match will be played on the same surface that hosted the CSK and DC games. The CSK fixture was a high-scoring one, where RCB made 249. The DC match offered a better balance between bat and ball, because the surface was a lot drier owing to it being an afternoon game. We now revert to the night. The curator has had six days to prepare the surface, which has been watered to have an even grass cover. Expect the runs to flow again.
Quotes
“In my old career [as part of England’s coaching setup], I’d have probably wanted him playing county cricket but that’s a different point. I think Jacob himself has talked about how much he’s got out of being at the IPL. When he had that innings against India in the T20 semi-final, he pretty much referenced the fact that having experienced some of the things he experienced here at the IPL, batting with people like Virat and playing in packed stadiums, meant that he was able to deal with whatever that situation threw at him. Everything he’s experiencing out here in the IPL is going to help him as an England cricketer, that’s for sure.”
RCB director of cricket Mo Bobat on Bethell sitting on the bench
“We trust in a method, in a formula, we trust in the players that we have in delivering that method and that formula. That, by the way, is no slight on the way the other people play as well, you know. The other teams are well within their right to play as they do.”
GT director of cricket Vikram Solanki on their more traditional batting approach
Shashank Kishore is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo
