Inspired PBKS bring form and fire to target RCB's home hex

"I thought this was a season-defining moment," said Ricky Ponting after Punjab Kings defended 111 against the champions. Even in defeat, he believed the fight would've meant something. But PBKS didn't lose, they made history. Just a game after failing to defend 245, pulling off the lowest successful defence in IPL history came as a jolt of belief, the kind that can turn confidence into swagger.

And there is no dearth of swag or intent in that PBKS line-up with big-hitters abound. In fact, it's a trait they share with their next opponents, RCB, along with a 4-2 win-loss record heading towards the half-way point of the league season. That sets up a potential bat-a-thon in Bengaluru between two of the form sides in the competition, the first of two meetings in the space of three days.

But pitches at the Chinnaswamy Stadium have thrown up more questions than runs this season, a trend that has exacerbated RCB's long-standing troubles at home. In both games here so far, they've batted first and failed to reach 170. Against Gujarat Titans, they were undone by Mohammed Siraj's swing and seam. Then Delhi Capitals stopped them in their tracks with spinners getting bite and hold off the surface, leading team mentor Dinesh Karthik to admit that he and his team have been taken by surprise.

RCB, armed with batting depth, have tried to bash their way out of danger at home, much like PBKS attempted on that tricky New Chandigarh pitch, only to lose wickets in clumps. Bengaluru could, once again, demand more craft than brute force, with both sets of batters needing to pair power with nuance. Rajat Patidar's side has looked more assured on the road, and with conditions at home feeling increasingly unfamiliar, maybe the mind trick for RCB lies in treating Chinnaswamy like an away venue.

**When:**Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Punjab Kings, Match 34, IPL 2025, April 18, 19:30 IST

**Where:**M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

**What to expect:**Unseasonal rain has lingered over the city in the build-up, with some scattered showers forecast on match night. Either way, captains will want to bowl first given the ground's (in)famous characteristics and the 100% record for chasing teams here in this season.

Head to Head: RCB 16-17 PBKS. RCB trail in this fixture despite winning the last three clashes.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Injury & Availability: No injury/availability concerns to report

**Tactics & Matchups:**Maxwell has had a troubled start to the season but a game against a former team in familiar climes may have come at the right time as he strives to rediscover his mojo. That said, he will come up against Krunal Pandya, a bowler who had dismissed him five times in the IPL. Krunal in fact has also managed to keep Shreyas Iyer (88.89 SR) and Marcus Stoinis (110.71 SR) quiet previously.

**Probable XII:**Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Suyash Sharma

**Injury & Availability:**Lockie Ferguson is unlikely to play a part in the remainder of IPL 2025 after picking up a suspected hip injury in the SRH game.

Tactics & Matchups: Yuzvendra Chahal isn't just the IPL's leading wicket-taker, he's Chinnaswamy's old puppet master, and on evidence of the KKR game, the strings are still in his hands. No bowler has more T20 wickets at this venue. Sixteen of his 24 IPL scalps since 2024 have been right-handers. With RCB stacking six of them in their top eight and with some promise of grip from the surface, Chahal won't need a second invitation to spin a web.

Probable XII: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nehal Wadhera, Josh Inglis (wk)/Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Shashank Singh, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak/Yash Thakur

– Of the 75 players who have batted at least 10 times in the IPL since 2024, only Glenn Maxwell has a sub-10 average (6.64)

– Phil Salt is the leading run-scorer in PowerPlays this season: he has hit 11 sixes and has a strike-rate of 193.61 in the first-six overs

– Yuzvendra Chahal has eight four-wicket hauls in IPL – tied for most with Sunil Narine

"He [Rajat Patidar] has been very good. The best thing is that he's been calm. That's what we need, especially in this format because when you lose matches, the easy thing is to panic. And that's not what he has done. We lost two matches, but he's been the same whether we won or we lost. So he's been handling everything very well." – Bhuvneshwar Kumar

"I have never, ever heard a negative word coming out of his mouth. When your coach is such a character, the way he inspires everyone, automatically when players listen to such things from the coach, the confidence boosts up." – Nehal Wadhera on the Ponting impact at Punjab Kings.