With the 17th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) progressing towards its business end, Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) find themselves in a do-or-die situation ahead of the 58th fixture on Thursday, May 9.
The winner of this fixture, though by the barest of margins, will remain in contention for a place in the playoffs. In contrast, the loser will become the second side to be eliminated this season after Mumbai Indians (MI).
Both teams have played some impressive cricket this season but in patches and that's why they find themselves at the brink of elimination. RCB had a horrendous beginning with their second win coming after a gap of a month, whereas Punjab have largely blown cold rather than hot.
The injury to Shikhar Dhawan has jolted Punjab as life without their designated skipper and the most experienced player in the squad has proved arduous. Shikhar will not be seen in action against RCB either as the southpaw hasn't travelled to Dharamsala with the rest of the side.
On the contrary, RCB have all the senior players available and raring to go for them. Hence, a mouth-watering contest is on the cards.
Punjab Kings IPL 2024 squad:
Jonny Bairstow, Rilee Rossouw, Shashank Singh, Sam Curran (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Rahul Chahar, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh, Prabhsimran Singh, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Tanay Thyagarajan, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Shikhar Dhawan, Chris Woakes, Atharva Taide, Nathan Ellis, Shivam Singh, Prince Choudhary, Vishwanath Singh
Royal Challengers Bengaluru IPL 2024 squad:
Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Will Jacks, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Karn Sharma, Swapnil Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Mahipal Lomror, Anuj Rawat, Suyash Prabhudessai, Akash Deep, Rajat Patidar, Himanshu Sharma, Reece Topley, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Mayank Dagar, Alzarri Joseph, Manoj Bhandage, Saurav Chauhan, Rajan Kumar
