RCB looking for revenge after big loss at home
Match 37 of the 2025 Indian Premier League season brings us a clash between the Punjab Kings and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur on April 20.
For the game, here are our preview and predictions.
Indian Premier League 2025 | Match 37: Punjab Kings vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 15:30 IST, April 20
Days after facing each other at Bengaluru’s home ground, Punjab Kings and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) meet again, this time at Punjab’s backyard for their second encounter of the season.
Hosts Punjab will come into this game on a high after picking up a big win away from home against Bengaluru just two days ago. Punjab’s bowling has been their key recently, with the bowlers bailing them out against defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and also bundling out Royal Challengers Bengaluru cheaply in the rain-curtailed game in Bengaluru. The biggest positive for the Punjab Kings has to be the return to form for Yuzvendra Chahal, the Indian Premier League’s all-time highest wicket taker. Arshdeep Singh along with Xavier Bartlett and Marco Jansen have been getting back to their economical selves at the top whilst chipping in with wickets.
Punjab’s batting though, in the last two games will be a cause of concern for Shreyas Iyer. Chasing 96 against RCB, they lost 5 wickets as their heave-ho approach has been caught out by their opponents while KKR also spun a web around the Punjab batters at their last game in Mullanpur.
RCB, who started their campaign brilliantly, have been going back to the old mistakes which have affected them each season. A top-heavy batting lineup doesn’t have any depth with Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar and Devdutt Padikkal being the heavy lifters for the RCB team with the bat. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood have been key with the ball up front but at a Mullanpur pitch which looked like it had some assistance for the spinners last time around, the likes of Krunal Pandya, Suyash Sharma and even Liam Livingstone might have a strong performance.
The Mullanpur strip showed last time around that it’s got something for the spinners, but there is plenty for the batters as well. While Punjab might be on a high, the experienced RCB squad hold a slight edge in this encounter given the quality in their squad.
Fantasy XI: Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rajat Patidar, Josh Inglis, Krunal Pandya, Glenn Maxwell, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood
Venue: Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur
Winners Prediction: Royal Challengers Bengaluru
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