Struggling Punjab meets Bangalore to find some hopes in the Thursday encounter of Indian T20 League 2020.
Match Timings: Oct 15, 7:30 PM
Team Preview
Bangalore stay in Sharjah to host Punjab in their first game of the second half in Indian T20 League. Virat Army surprised everyone this season after winning 5 games out of 7 and moved to 3rd spot. They are only ahead of Delhi and Mumbai on an NRR difference. In the previous game, ABD was outstanding with the bat but the more satisfying things happened in bowling department which was criticised various times. Washington Sundar is taking a big role in the spin department along with Chahal. Chris Morris and Siraj both came out as a lifeline in pace-attack. For the first time, Bangalore looks like a strong unit in both departments. Aaron Finch also got runs against Kolkata so there is no room for error in this unit.
Meanwhile, Punjab’s story is quite similar to 2020. They lost a few games in a dramatic way. The super-over defeat to Delhi, Sharjah loss to Rajasthan and the recent 2-runs defeat against Kolkata are making a disappointing script for KL Rahul this season. If the luck was in favour of them, they would have placed at the middle in the table. Chris Gayle is recovering from the illness and he might be replaced Maxwell on Thursday. The equation is pretty clear for Punjab as they cannot digest a single defeat from here. A couple of more defeats can close the doors for the playoffs. The last time both sides met, it was KL Rahul who smashed 132 to outclass the whole Bangalore side.
Pitch Report
Sharjah’s surface has been changed and it offers decent help to bowlers. In the last two games, teams have defended the total with convincing way. The surface gets slower in middle-overs but the short boundaries will help hard-hitters to get easy runs in death.
Possible XI
Bangalore
Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers (wk), Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Isuru Udana, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal
Punjab
KL Rahul (c), Mayank Agarwal, Mandeep Singh, Nicholas Pooran, Simran Singh (wk), Glenn Maxwell/Chris Gayle, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Chris Jordan, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh
Key Players
Bangalore
ABD
Season so far – M: 7, Runs: 228, Avg: 57
Virat Kohli
Season so far – M: 7, Runs: 256, Avg: 64
Punjab
KL Rahul
Season so far – M: 7, Runs: 387, Avg: 64.50
Mohammed Shami
Season so far – M: 7, Wickets:10, Avg: 22.30
