IPL 2016, RPS vs RCB Playing 11: Today's Probable XI for Royal Challengers Bangalore (Confirmed XI)

Confirmed Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI): Virat Kohli(c), Lokesh Rahul(w), Mandeep Singh, AB de Villiers, Shane Watson, Sarfaraz Khan, Stuart Binny, Harshal Patel, Kane Richardson, Iqbal Abdulla, Tabraiz Shamsi

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) travel to Pune to play the Rising Pune Supergiants and will look to change their fortunes against the Supergiants. Both the teams had raced to winning starts, but since then have lost two games on the trot, hence both will be desperate to bounce back to winning ways.

Bangalore, led by the charismatic Virat Kohli has been great with the bat in all of their 3 games but their bowling has let them down. Kohli and De Villiers steered the Royal Challengers to victory in their first game powering the team to a 200+ total.

The next two games saw the batting side post more than decent totals on the board, but some dismal bowling displays contributed to losses for Bangalore. They will look to turn things around and get back to winning ways in their next match. Let’s take a look at how they might line up against the Supergiants.

Batting: A team where the first three reads Christopher Henry Gayle, AB de Villiers, and Virat Kohli need little introduction. Gayle is likely to miss this game at Pune as he has flown back to the Caribbean to celebrate the birth of his daughter. RCB will miss the hitting abilities of Calypso giant (though he hadn’t fired yet in this edition).

Someone like Gayle is surely not replaceable, but Lokesh Rahul and Travis Head can do more than decent job with the bat. Rahul and Kohli might open the batting followed by AB at no.3.

There is little that needs to be said about the South African hard hitter, who has the fastest century to his name in limited overs cricket. Travis Head and the young Sarfaraz Khan will try finishing things up with a bang. Shane Watson might be used as a floater.

All Rounders: Shane Watson and Stuart Binny are both very useful. Shane Watson might have bidden goodbye to international cricket, but is still a force to reckon with. H might take the new ball and finish at the death.

Using him as an opener perpetually stays as an option. Binny can play the role of the 5th or 6th bowler to chip in a few over in the middle and he can swing the bat around at the death overs.

Bowlers: Bowling has been a weakness of the Royal Challengers and the fact that their bowling ace Mitchell Starc will miss the IPL due to his injury has added to their woes in the bowling department. The likes of Sreenath Aravind, Harshal Patel, and Varun Aaron can do a decent job with the bowl but let’s face it they are no Mitchell Starc.

Allan Donald their bowling coach will need to find some problem to this solution and after Samuel Badree’s exit from the tournament, things got even worse. However, we are not predicting Badree’s replacement SA left-arm chinaman Tabraiz Shamsi in the playing XI today. RCB would probably go with the experience of Kane Richardson.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) Probable Playing XI Today:

Lokesh Rahul, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Travis Head, Shane Watson, Sarfaraz Khan, Stuart Binny, Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kane Richardson, Varun Aaron