It’s the battle between Royal challengers and Gujarat Lions. It’s a battle between two star-studded line-ups. It’s a battle between Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina. Having said that, what if I tell you that it’s the clash between the two teams lying at the bottom of the points table. Who would have expected this before the start of IPL 10, that these two hot teams will face such humiliation in the early stages of the league? They have nobody but themselves to blame for this. Both teams went in with batting heavy sides and paid price for it. It’s high time that they find winning ways to keep themselves alive.

GL start as favorites as they have the home ground advantage and also their batters have found some form in the last 2 games.

Head to Head

Matches played – 3

Gujarat Lions Won – 1

Royal Challengers Bangalore Won – 2

RCB journey so far-

Played – 5

Won- 1

Lost -4

RCB has not had the greatest of starts to this season and they are at the bottom of the table, which is not surprising indeed. They are renowned for bouncing back in the later stages of the league as we have seen last year as well. But it is imperative for the RCB unit to find the right balance in both the batting and bowling departments in the early games so that they can really strike big later.

Batting – A huge positive has been the return of ABD and Virat to the side. Both registered fifties too. So we expect these two to register some memorable partnerships together. But it is sad that apart from these two no other batsman are standing up for the team. Kedhar Jadhav flourished in one match but after that, he too failed. Watson is under the pump for his series of failures. As Ganguly rightly pointed, he should make way for the big Gayle. The better these batsman play the lesser would be the pressure on ABD-Kohli and the better they can perform. RCB batting lineup is so very star-studded that you expect a 200 plus score every time they walk out to bat. Hope this line-up settles down quickly and gives us more reasons to love their batting. ABD is sitting out of this match due to an injury. Travis Head is likely to replace him.

Bowling– The much coveted Tymal Mills couldn’t live up to his price tag so far. They went in for Adam Milne and Samuel Badree to strengthen their bowling. Badree’s hat trick and Milne’s pace and variations certainly are helping their cause. Chahal and Aravind are supporting well too. Tymall Mills should find his way back this game and it would be interesting to see their overseas composition now.This bowling seems to have found some rhythm finally and hope they will keep up this momentum.

RCB VS GL Predicted XI:  Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli (C), Mandeep Singh, AB De Villiers, Kedar Jadhav, Stuart Binny, Pawan Negi, Adam Milne, Samuel Badree, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sreenath Aravind

Gujarat Lions journey so far-

Played – 4

Won- 1

Lost -3

Gujarat Lions team is currently in the last but one position in the points table. The team which managed to play Qualifiers in the last year’s IPL tournament couldn’t continue that momentum this year. As the key players in the team like Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja couldn’t play the first two games, the team’s bowling unit looked out of place. The team management emphasized on strengthening the batting heavily and it backfired too. The inclusion of Jadeja may not have changed their fortunes but Andrew Tye was certainly a star. Their batting also has found some momentum now. Hope good days are ahead for this Raina led side.

Batting –

The batting unit of Gujarat Lions with Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch, Dwayne Smith, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik and Jason Roy is certainly a formidable one. More so because all of them have found some form finally. It is said that Dwayne Bravo is practicing hard in the net sessions. He will still require few more days to get match fit. Raina has led from the front with his useful knocks and today is his 250th T20 match only second to MSD. Dinesh Karthik also has been simply superb to add the finishing touches. Aaron Finch has got his kit bag finally and he should be replacing Jason Roy in the final 11.

Bowling-

The lesser we talk the better it is about GL’s bowling. They have totally underperformed with the likes of Shivil Kaushik bowling way off the radar. They completely lacked discipline in both their matches. Jadeja’s inclusion also did not change their fortunes. But it was an Aussie who changed the tide for GL with a hat trick. He looked deadly in both the games he played. It is the other bowlers like Munaf, Dhawal Kulkarni, Praveen Kumar who need to raise their hand in these crunching games.

GL VS RCB Predicted XI: Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Smith, Suresh Raina (C), Aaron Finch, Ishan Kishan, Dinesh Karthik, Andrew Tye, Ravindra Jadeja, Praveen Kumar, Basil Thampi, Dhawal Kulkarni.

AllIndiaRoundup Predicts:

Well, every cricket loving Indian is a cricket expert and every expert has his own predictions for IPL. Right from cricket pundits sitting in com boxes to the waiters at a local Mumbai cafe, everyone is an expert in India. We @AIR thought why not try out our luck by predicting these matches. Of course, we would appreciate your support in making these calls. You can vote and tell us who is that you think will win today’s match.

AllIndiaRoundup Predictions for RCB vs MI-

It’s a belter of a wicket at Rajkot and high scores are expected. Both teams would be itching to chase.

Score prediction-

First batting:

GL – 180-190

RCB – 195-205

OUR WINNER – Royal Challengers Bangalore

WHY?

• Great batting wicket that should suit RCB style of batting
• Virat Kohli and ABD partnership
• Gayle factor
• Gayle-ABD-Virat experience in successful run chases
• RCB has good record against GL

Our Star performers Today-

Gayle, Kohli, Mills

Raina, Mccullum, Tye