IPL 2018: RCB vs KXIP, Match 8: Kohli, Ashwin face - off at Chinnaswamy

This will be RCB's first home game this season.

Kohli and Ashwin's performance will be key for both teams.

RCB is set to play their first home game at the Chinnaswamy stadium tonight against Kings XI Punjab who won their opener against DD. RCB, on the other hand, lost their opener against KKR. 

This will be a matchup between two of India's match winners in recent times. Ashwin has not been a part of Kohli's ODI team in recent time and this is the reason why this contest this contest will be a mouthwatering one. 

RCB will once again go into the match banking on their batsmen to do the job. Kohli - AB will be key for RCB with bat and Chahal with the ball. Washington Sundar partnered Chahal against KKR will be partnering him again in this game with Umesh Yadav the lead pacer.Umesh bowled with pace against KKR and would like to do the same against Punjab as well. Chris Woakes will be the foreign recruit among the bowlers. 

Kings XI Punjab arrives in Bengaluru with a contrasting start. The post-auction analysis didn't place KXIP amongst the early-season favorites but the Ashwin-led side made a convincing start, against Daredevils. Another advantage they bring along is a Karnataka core at the top of the batting line-up, which gave a good account of itself in the first game. 

Gayle spent some time batting in the nets. It will be very interesting to see if Chris Gayle gets a game today against his old franchise. A franchise which helped Gayle make a name for himself in the IPL. However, with KL - Rahul in fantastic form as he did show in the last match, whether KXIP change their winning combination will be an interesting watch out. 

As far as the weather and playing conditions are concerned, Partly cloudy skies and a maximum temperature of 29 degrees, which should dip as the game goes on. The pitch is a mystery this season. However, if we go by history, then Chinnaswany will have a lot of runs in store for both teams. 

Toss: Royal Challengers Bangalore have won the toss and have opted to field

Playing XI 

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Brendon McCullum, Quinton de Kock(w), Virat Kohli(c), AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Chris Woakes, Washington Sundar, Kulwant Khejroliya, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal

Kings XI Punjab: Lokesh Rahul(w), Mayank Agarwal, Yuvraj Singh, Aaron Finch, Karun Nair, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin(c), Andrew Tye, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb Ur Rahman
 

 
 

By Anshuman Roy - 13 Apr, 2018

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