IPL 2021: Match 48, RCB vs PBKS Preview, Playing XI, Live Streaming Details & Updates

Both the teams enter into this contest on the back of victories.

Published - 02 Oct 2021, 22:22 IST | Updated - 02 Oct 2021, 22:22 IST

View : 1K

4 Min Read

If there is one team that never fails to prove the ‘it’s never over until it’s over’ adage correct, then it’s Punjab Kings. “We’re used to this” is what their skipper KL Rahul started his address with after another down-the-wire game. Quite often at the post-match conferences, Rahul wears this bemused look, where he is seemingly at the loss of words. And he has only his team to curse/thank (depending on the result of the game). That’s the thing with every Punjab Kings win or loss: they leave you speechless.

Their fixtures are never short of drama. Just in the UAE leg thus far, the Kings have managed to inexplicably botch up a chase with four needed off the last over. They allowed Rajasthan Royals to defend it and lost by two runs. The immediately following clash, they defended 125 against Sunrisers Hyderabad. A six-wicket loss against Mumbai Indians and a five-wicket win against Kolkata Knight Riders later, they come face to face with the high-flying Royal Challengers Bangalore.

In their last game against KKR, Kings enjoyed their fair share of luck. Catches went down, one was taken but was (controversially) adjudged not out, a couple popped out the hands and went across the boundary, they got chances to score of misfields with a tense chase building up, and they finally ended up winning.

After being terribly unlucky on countless occasions, Punjab won’t mind luck favouring them for a change. Luck, plenty of it, is what they would need to beat the mid-table tension and fix for themselves a spot in the top four, with two games to go. For that to happen, what else PBKS would need is also more responsible batting from others barring KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal.

After both Jhye Richardson and Riley Meredith made themselves unavailable, Punjab no longer have the services of Chris Gayle, who pulled out of the league citing bubble fatigue. Their other overseas recruits – Nicholas Pooran, Aiden Markram, Fabian Allen and Nathan Ellis – have not been as consistent as they would have liked, while Adil Rashid has been included only once in the XI.

Unquestionable positives, however, have been Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Shami, who have done the bulk of the job with the ball, and in the last game, the sturdy Shahrukh Khan, who held his nerve in the chase to get his team across the line.

Their Sunday rivals, Virat Kohli’s RCB, are far better-placed: third in the tally having played a game lesser than PBKS’ 12, with only a mathematical possibility of not being able to make it into the playoffs. The 2021 season has been RCB’s season to find the answers to long-unanswered questions.

Glenn Maxwell has let them break their traditional over-reliance on the Kohli-de Villiers duo, Harshal Patel has improved their unruly death bowling habits, whereas KS Bharat – in a limited sample size of three innings – has started to look like the answer to their No. 3 question. And they enter this contest on the back of two comprehensive victories over Mumbai Indians (54 runs) followed by Rajasthan Royals (seven wickets).

Pitch and conditions

One season is all it took for Sharjah to become batters graveyard from bowlers. The venue has recorded one low-scoring encounter after another. Despite the Mumbai-Delhi clash on Saturday (October 2) being held on a fresh surface, the pattern did not change, with Delhi chasing 130. The expectations remain the same going into Sunday. This being a day encounter, beating the heat would be an added challenge.

Playing combination for RCB vs PBKS

Royal Challengers Bangalore

George Garton had a lukewarm debut against Rajasthan as he returned with 1/30. However, Virat Kohli spoke highly of him post-match, and he likely to hold his position.

Predicted XI: Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, KS Bharat (wk), Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dan Christian, George Garton, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal

Punjab Kings

Fabien Allen limped off the field in the previous game and remains doubtful on Sunday. He could be either replaced by Chris Jordan or more likely Adil Rashid given Sharjah’s slow surface this year. Punjab would almost certainly want to give Harpreet Brar a look-in, not least because he was the Player of the Match during the reverse fixture earlier this year when he dismissed the golden trio of Kohli-ABD-Maxwell.

Predicted XI: KL Rahul (c&wk), Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Aiden Markram, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Fabian Allen/Adil Rashid/Chris Jordan, Nathan Ellis, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh