Pune Warriors India vs Bangalore Royal Challengers Match Preview: Bangalore look forward to bounce back at the Chinnaswamy

Pune Warriors India vs Bangalore Royal Challengers - The Royal Challengers Bangalore have started their campaign by winning the match against the Delhi Daredevils. But the subsequent losses must have hurt them badly – One against the Chennai Super Kings where they failed to defend 200 plus score and then against the Rajasthan Royals where the defeat margin was big.

RCB would definitely like to forget these matches and get back to the winning ways. After all they are the runners up of the previous edition!

The core strength of RCB is its batting with heavy weights Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB DeVelliers. The concern must be Saurabh Tiwary who is yet to fire. If he gets back to his form then it will only add to the powerful batting line up. Chris Gayle single handedly won many matches for RCB in the previous edition. He is yet to strike his form and if he does that RCB will be back to the winning ways. Mayank Agarwal can also play an explosive innnings. However the bowling doesn't look as good for the Bangalore. Zaheer Khan will lead the pace attack. But he is not very well supported by his counterpart Vinay Kumar. The spin department looks formidable with the captain himself and Muralidharan. It needs to be watched how Vettori will tackle the fifth bowler's deficit. He drew a lot of criticism when he made Virat Kohli to bowl the penultimate over which changed the fortune of the game against the CSK.

Pune Warriors who performed miserably in the last year surprised everyone with their wins this year. Slowly they are progressing as a good side. However if Bowling is a concern for Bangalore then batting is a bit of concern for Pune. Ryder played a crucial innings in the previous match and Uthappa too contributed well. However the proper opening pair to lay a solid foundation is missing. Sourov Ganguly seems to be struggling with the bat and it is time for him to prove himself. Steve Smith is the find for Pune teams as he is scoring runs at a rapid pace. In addition they have Marlon Samuels who can come in handy with the ball and the bat. The bowling department looks much stronger with pacers Aashish Nehra and Ashok Dinda. Leg spinner Rahul Sharma could also trouble the opponents.

Two finely balanced teams come face to face at the Chinnaswamy but the if the Royal Challengers batting exhibits full force or Gayle force rather, the opposition would not have any option but to turn as mere spectators.

Key Players for RCB: Chris Gayle, De Villiers. Pune will have a heavy sigh of relief if they get out Gayle earlier.

Key Players for PWI: Robin Uthappa and Steve Smith.

My Prediction: The heavy weight Bangalore batting may be too heavy for the Warriors.

Likely Eleven:

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Daniel Vettori (captain), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers (wk), Saurabh Tiwary, Mohammad Kaif, Abhimanyu Mithun, Zaheer Khan, Vinay Kumar, Muttiah Muralitharan

Pune Warriors India: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Jesse Ryder, Marlon Samuels, Robin Uthappa (wk), Angelo Mathews, Mithun Manhas, Steven Smith, Murali Kartik, Rahul Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Ashok Dinda

Start of play: 8 PM