Punjab takes on Bangalore in the 6th encounter of Indian T20 League 2020.
Team Previews
Punjab and Bangalore stay in Dubai to square off each other in the Thursday encounter of Indian T20 League. Punjab had a day to forget against Delhi on Sunday night. After a quality bowling display from Punjab, Stoinis delivered a carnage in last 3 overs to put 157 for Delhi. In the chase, Punjab were on the winning situation but they couldn’t hold the nerve when they needed just 1 off 3 balls. In Super Over, Rabada spoiled their party to give Punjab an unwanted defeat. Mayank Agarwal was outstanding with the bat, scoring 85 off 60 balls but Punjab would hope some runs from the middle-order as well. The death-bowling also made questions after decent bowling with the new ball and in middle-overs.
Meanwhile, Bangalore kicked off their campaign with a 10 runs victory over Hyderabad. After losing the toss, Bangalore saw a positive start from Padikkal and Finch, following the fabulous half-century from AB de Villiers. In the chase, Hyderabad was going strong but Chahal delivered breakthroughs and the late batting collapse cost Hyderabad in the match. Bangalore is likely to go ahead with the same XI. Kohli needs some error fix on Thursday as they couldn’t get the ideal score after a solid start from openers.
Pitch Report
Dubai Cricket Stadium is a decent T20 ground and pacers have a slight advantage from the pitch. Both sides have earlier played there and in both games, batsmen had good numbers. Chasing is always an ideal call as the dew factor plays an important role. Spinners can also control runs in middle-overs.
Possible XI
Punjab
Lokesh Rahul (c & wk), Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Nicholas Pooran, Sarfaraz Khan, Glenn Maxwell, Krishnappa Gowtham, Chris Jordan, Sheldon Cottrell, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi
Bangalore
Aaron Finch, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Josh Philippe (wk), Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Navdeep Saini, Umesh Yadav, Dale Steyn, Yuzvendra Chahal
Key Players
Punjab
KL Rahul
Last season – Runs: 593, Avg: 53.90, SR: 135.38
Previous outing – 21 (19)
Glenn Maxwell
Big Bash 2019-20 – Runs: 398, Avg: 39.80, SR: 148.50
Bangalore
AB de Villiers
Last season – Runs: 442, Avg: 44.20, SR: 154
Previous outing – 51 (30)
Virat Kohli
Last season – Runs: 464, Avg: 33.14, SR: 141.46
