In a colossal clash between two teams desperately trying to make it to the playoffs, the Punjab Kings will take on the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) stadium on Thursday. Virat Kohli and co. have had a mesmeric rise coming from three consecutive wins. PBKS on the other hand, were outclassed by the Chennai Super Kings in their last encounter.

RCB dethroned the former champions Gujarat Titans in their previous showing with their bowlers Mohammad Siraj, Vyshak Vijay Kumar and Yash Dayal, bundling their opponents to a meagre 137 runs on the board. In their chase skipper Faf Du Plessis (64 off 23 balls) and Virat Kohli (42 off 27 balls) propelled the team to an impressive win.

As both teams languish in the bottom half with eight points from 11 matches, their playoff chances look bleak, and they might have to test their fate on the results of other teams.

PBKS likely XI (if batting first)

Prabhsimran Singh, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Shashank Singh, Rilee Rossouw, Sam Curran (c), Jitesh Sharma, Ashutosh Sharma, Harshal Patel, Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar

PBKS likely XI (if bowling first)

Jonny Bairstow (wk), Shashank Singh, Rilee Rossouw, Sam Curran (c), Jitesh Sharma, Ashutosh Sharma, Harshal Patel, Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh

Impact players: Prabhsimran Singh, Arshdeep Singh, Rishi Dhawan, Harpreet Bhatia

RCB likely XI (if batting first)

Virat Kohli, Faf Du Plessis (c), Rajat Patidar, Will Jacks, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Dinesh Kartik (wk), Swapnil Singh, Karn Sharma, Mohammad Siraj, Vyshak Vijay Kumar

RCB likely XI (if bowling first)

Virat Kohli, Faf Du Plessis (c), Will Jacks, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Dinesh Kartik (wk), Swapnil Singh, Karn Sharma, Mohammad Siraj, Vyshak Vijay Kumar, Yash Dayal

Impact Players: Rajat Patidar, Yash Dayal, Mahipal Lomror, Suyash Prabhudesai

Pitch report

The Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) stadium is considered a balanced pitch being ideal for both batting and ball. However, in the only match played at this venue between CSK and PBKS, the pitch provided a whole lot of assistance to the bowlers and the total also remained low.

Head-to-head

Both teams have played against each other on 32 occasions where the Punjab Kings are ahead by a narrow margin of 17 wins to RCB’s 15.

Fantasy XI

Jonny Bairstow, Virat Kohli, Faf Du Plessis, Shashank Singh, Rajat Patidar, Dinesh Kartik (wk), Sam Curran (c), Mohammad Siraj, Yash Dayal, Arshdeep Singh, Rahul Chahar

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