Outplayed by Kolkata Knight Riders in their last game, Royal Challengers Bangalore will hope to get their act together when they face the Lucknow Super Giants test at their home ground in Bangalore on Monday.
The demoralising 81-run defeat against the Knights exposed RCB's poor defence against quality spin bowling. Lucknow have an able army of spinners in Ravi Bishnoi, Krunal Pandya and the veteran Amit Mishra and RCB will not want another failure.
RCB depend a lot on their heavyweight opening pair of captain Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli and if the two get going, there will be few worries. Experienced batters like Dinesh Karthik and Glenn Maxwell should also start contributing.
Besides their batting, their death bowling was also a concern against the Knights. Despite being in an advantageous position, having dismissed half of the rival batsmen, RCB lost grip of the match when Shardul Thakur started whacking the ball. And Shardul is not even a specialist batsman.
Captain Du Plessis also needs to marshall his resources more intelligently. It appears that he often loses track of his bowling options and underutilises some of them. Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed is a case in point.
Harshal Patel was particularly lousy with his bowling and the usually-reliable Mohammed Siraj too looked wayward against the Knights. RCB's bowling has suffered in the absence Sri Lankan spinner Wanindu Hasaranga, who had a good season last time.
Lucknow, who have two wins and a loss so far, will hope that their express pacer Mark Wood recovers from flu and is fit for the game. They also missed Avesh Khan in their last game.
Lucknow also need to find a way of including Quinton de Kock in the team. The South African opener is yet to play in IPL 2023 after joining late and Kyle Mayers' form at the top of the order has made it difficult for the franchise to include the left-handed batter in the XI.
Lucknow will do well if captain KL Rahul gives up his opening spot and let De Kock and Mayers open.
Today’s match
■ RCB vs LSG at Chinnaswamy, Bangalore, 7.30pm. Live on Star Sports & Jio Cinema
