The Pune Warriors India (PWI) will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium, Pune on Thursday's second match. It is the 46th game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2013 and the second meeting for the teams this season.
Overview:
RCB defeated PWI by 130 runs in their previous meeting in Bangalore with Chris Gayle smashing 175 runs from just 66 balls. PWI will be looking forward to take revenge at their home ground.
Despite having some big hitters, PWI are on the bottom of the table winning only two of the 10 matches played so far. They will take on RCB after conceding five consecutive defeats. They will be keen to win the remaining games as their chance of finishing in the last four will get bleak if they lost one more game.
RCB are in the second position with 12 points after winning six of the 10 games played so far. They conceded back-to-back defeats to Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals after a convincing win against PWI. They are under pressure to perform as a lost will help other teams overtake them in the ranking.
Previous Meetings:
RCB and PWI have met four times in the past and the former won on all the occasions. RCB beat PWI by 130 runs in the previous meeting this season.
Team News:
Pune Warriors India: Openers Aaron Finch and Robin Uthappa, who gave the team a good start on a few occasions, failed in the previous match. Steven Smith (35) was the highest scorer in the previous match. With Ross Taylor, who was known for explosive shots, has been made to warm the bench due to poor form this season, Yuvraj Singh, Luke Wright and others should show up before it's too late.
On the bowling front, they have Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashok Dinda, Mitchell Marsh, Abhishek Nayar, Rahul Sharma and Ajantha Mendis. They took only three wickets in the previous match, which will worry the think tank of the team.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: None of the big names in the team - Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and Ab De Villiers - hit big in the previous game but managed to put up 171 runs on the board. However, they let Rajasthan Royals chase down the total. They will be aware that no total is too big total in this format of the game. The top-order will be expected to fire and put up a big score on the board on Thursday.
On the bowling front, they have Vinay Kumar, RP Singh, Jaydev Unadkat, Ravi Rampaul, Murali Kartik and Muttiah Muralidaran. Rampaul was the leading wicket taker in the previous match, picking up the wickets of Ajinkya Rahane and Sanju Samson. After failing to defend a big total against RR, they will be expected to pull up their socks and restrict the opponents from scoring at will.
Prediction:
RCB have lost all the away matches, casting doubt on whether they will be able to break the jinx when they take on PWI in Pune. Despite their bad away fixtures record, RCB are the favourites to win on Thursday.
SQUADS:
Pune Warriors India: Angelo Mathews (c), Aaron Finch, Abhishek Nayar, Ajantha Mendis, Ali Murtaza, Anustup Majumdar, Ashok Dinda, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Dheeraj Jadhav, Eklavya Dwivedi, Harpreet Singh, Ishwar Pandey, Kane Richardson, Krishnakant Upadhyay, Luke Wright, Mahesh Rawat, Manish Pandey, Marlon Samuels, Mitchell Marsh, Mithun Manhas, Parveez Rasool, Rahul Sharma, Raiphi Gomez, Robin Uthappa, Ross Taylor, Shrikant Wagh, Steve Smith, Tirumalasetti Suman, Tamim Iqbal, Udit Birla, Yuvraj Singh, Wayne Parnell
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (captain), AB De Villiers, Abhimanyu Mithun, Abhinav Mukund, Andrew McDonald, Arun Karthik, Cheteshwar Pujara, Chris Gayle, Christopher Barnwell, Daniel Christian, Daniel Vettori, Harshal Patel, Jaidev Unadkat, K P Appanna, Karun Nair, Mayank Agarwal, Moises Henriques, Murali Kartik, Muttiah Muralitharan, Pankaj Singh, Prasanth Parameswaran, R Vinay Kumar, Ravi Rampaul, Rudra Pratap Singh, S Aravind, Sandeep Warrier, Saurabh Tiwary, Sheldon Jackson, Sunny Sohal, Syed Mohammad, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Vijay Zol, Zaheer Khan
Where to Watch Live
The match will begin at 8:00 pm IST and will be telecast live on Sony Set Max channel.
