BANGALORE: After a clinical win against Rajasthan Royals, table-toppers Royal Challengers Bangalore will be keen to continue their fantastic run when they lock horns with the beleaguered Pune Warriors in the Pepsi IPL on Tuesday.
Royal Challengers are on a roll after winning five matches they have played at home this season and would not want to fritter away their best chance to gain two more vital points before they play their next six games away.
The games would be a difficult proposition, considering they have lost both their away games against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings.
Unlike the previous IPL seasons, the Royal Challengers have managed to get rid of the tag of being over-dependent on explosive West Indian batsman Chris Gayle, who has 257 runs under his belt in seven matches with an unbeaten 92 being his highest score this season.
The home side has been fantastic even in case of a flopshow by Gayle, who also has to his credit 17 sixes and 22 boundaries.
Either their captain Virat Kohli or aggressive South African wicketkeeper batsman AB de Villiers have come to the party erasing the Gayle-dependent tag.
In contrast, batting problems have plagued Pune Warriors who were handed a defeat by Kings XI Punjab in their last match.
Their top guns — Yuvraj Singh Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Angelo Mathews and Marlon Samuels — haven’t been consistent. The exception has been Aaron Finch who has scored an aggregate of 211 runs in five matches with three half centuries under his belt.
Pune have already broken an 11-match losing streak but the Angelo Mathews-led side has put up ordinary performances barring a couple of matches, which they won against Rajasthan and CSK.
On the bowling front, Leg-spinner Rahul Sharma has been the pick of Warriors’ attack and has got good support from Mathews, though Ashok Dinda and Bhuvneshwar Kumar need to do better. (PTI)