PK vs RCB 26th Match Prediction

PK vs RCB Team Previews

Punjab Kings

The Punjab Kings have played a very strange brand of cricket this season. They have so much of batting power but it is almost like they are afraid of using it. They batted first on a good wicket and only managed to reach 120+ thanks to a rapid inning from Chris Jordan at the end.

Batsmen like KL Rahul, Mayank Aggarwal, Chris Gayle, and the others have struggled for consistency at the top so far. We know what they are capable of but whether they are going to be able to turn things around so quickly is the question.

Playing against RCB should give some added motivation to KL Rahul and Chris Gayle, both of whom were an integral part of the RCB lineup before being sidelined. That should spark a bit more intent in their style of playing in our opinion.

Deepak Hooda scored runs in the first couple of matches he played but punjab Kings may be a victim to his initial success. He definitely deserves time in the middle-order but his previous record suggests that his initial success may be hard to replicate.

Nicholas Pooran is also struggling for form and so the only way that the Pujab Kings can win is by a inning of brilliance from one of the top-3.

The bowling lineup is a bit confused as well. Moises Henriques is playing as a genuine all-rounder and so can be expected to bowl in every match. That means Henriques and Hooda will fulfill the role of one bowler while Chris Jordan, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami, and Ravi Bishnoi are the four genuine bowlers in the lineup.

This is a decent bowling lineup but one that can be very expensive against a strong batting lineup like RCB.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

RCB was lucky to have won the match against DC. It did not bat well and was bailed out by the brilliance of AB de Villiers at the end. The problem of having one batsman less than needed was partly take care of as Rajat Patidar had a decent outing but the bulk of the runs have to come from the Big-4. We are including Devdutt Padikkal alongside Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and, AB de Villiers in this because he has been sperb for RCB so far.

In terms of batting firepower, RCB is ahead of Punjab Kings and perhaps every other team in IPL 2021. The big players are in form and batting with freedom. We also see them playing fearlessly at all stages of the game, something that the leadership has to be given credit for.

It is this attitude that does not allow an opponent to be complacent even when it seems that RCB is on the mat.

Similarly, the bowling lineup for RCB is very good. Mohammad Siraj has come leaps and bounds ahead of where he was just a few months ago and is leading the attack admirably. Harshal Patel seems to have a happy knack of picking up wickets everytime he comes to bowl and Washington Sundar is good at keeping a tight lid on things as well.

With Kyle Jamieson performing to expectations and Yuzvendra CHahal slowly finding some form, there are no weak links as such in the lineup just yet. We do think that Harshal Patel has been lucky with the number of wickets he is getting and is due for some poor matches but there are enough options for RCB to fall back on.

We saw Daniel Sams being given a chance in the lineup ahead of Dan Christian and that is not a bad option at all. Sams is a very good bowler and has improved as a lower-order after as well. We think he will continue to feature in the side for some time to come.