Whatever the outcome of Friday’s match between the Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Gujarat Lions, the side in fourth position going into Saturday’s fixtures will have 10 points to their credit.
RCB who have lost their last three fixtures, are well adrift on just four points. They have fixtures in hand on the sides above them, but with their current lack of form, that appears to be of little advantage, as they see unlikely to win those matches.
The visitors to Bangalore, the Rising Pune Supergiants, are only slightly better off than their hosts. Three wins from the nine fixture that they have played giving them six points, but they have only five qualifying fixtures still to play, while RCB have seven matches still to complete.
When the two sides met on April 22nd at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune, the Challengers ran out winners by 13 runs in a high scoring affair.
RCB rattled up a formidable 185-3, with AB de Villiers at his most destructive best with 83 off of 46 deliveries, more than ably backed up by Virat Kohli who contributed a classy 80 fro 63 balls, quite a sedate effort compared to de Villiers. Thisara Perera being the pick of Pune’s bowlers with 3-34 in his four overs.
With international stars, Faf du Plessis, Kevin Pietersen and Steve Smith contributing just six runs between them, Pune were always up against it, and eventually finished on 172-8.