Having notched up wins in its last two fixtures, Royal Challengers Bengaluru has kept its IPL playoff hopes alive. RCB will strive to keep the momentum going with a good result against Gujarat Titans in Bengaluru on May 4.
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RCB holds sway, having gotten past the same opponent last week at Ahmedabad. The victory was set up by a brilliant unbeaten 41-ball 100 from Will Jacks, with Virat Kohli (70 n.o.) playing the supporting role.
Unlike many other sides, RCB has not been able to take full advantage of home conditions. Faf du Plessis and his men have managed only one positive result in four games held at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here.
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Jacks believes that RCB is now well poised to do well at home, given that their batters have found form. “We do not want to focus on our losing record here. Because of the playing conditions, it is hard to have home advantage. The pitches are good and the boundaries are small. If a batter gets going, it is hard to stop. Now that our batters are in form, we can hopefully finish our home games strongly,” Jacks said.
The city welcomed a long-awaited spell of rain on Friday, even if it mildly disrupted the training schedule of the teams. The skies cleared up later, allowing players to get a hit under lights.
Much like RCB, GT is teetering on the edge of elimination. With eight points from 10 matches, the visitor needs to get on a winning streak to push for a playoff spot. GT must address its bowling woes, having conceded 200-plus scores in its last two outings.
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Teams (from):
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Faf du Plessis (c), Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Swapnil Singh, Saurav Chauhan.
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (c), David Miller, Matthew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, Kane Williamson, Abhinav Manohar, B. Sai Sudharsan, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Noor Ahmad, Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan, Joshua Little, Mohit Sharma, Azmatullah Omarzai, Umesh Yadav, Shahrukh Khan, Sushant Mishra, Kartik Tyagi, Manav Suthar, Spencer Johnson, Sandeep Warrier, BR Sharath.
Match starts at 7.30 PM.