Pune Warriors India (PWI) host Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the second of the two games to be played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Thursday. The game will be played at Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium in Pune.

Chris Gayle
IPL

Where to Watch Live

Play starts at 3:30pm BST. Live coverage will be available on ITV 4 and ITV 4 HD. Follow the match live, via text updates, on ESPN Cricinfo.

Overview

The Warriors enter this game with a defeat against two-time Champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 37 runs earlier this week. Pune had to chase 165 for victory against MS Dhoni's men at home. However, PWI failed to fire from the beginning as the former RCB player Robin Uthappa once again disappointed with the bat after scoring just 10 from 11 balls.

Aaron Finch opened the innings against CSK, but could not give a good start to his side as he fell for 15. Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has also not been able to match his performance as he has managed just 140 runs in seven games in this edition of the IPL, managing five wickets in the meantime. Their poor form has now seen them sit at the bottom of the table with four points from 10 games.

Meanwhile, The Challengers also enter this game with a defeat as they lost their latest tie against Rajasthan Royals. The Bangalore side went on to post a total of 171, as Vinay Kumar hit three sixes in the final of their innings. In reply, the Royals chased the total posted by RCB as they won the game by four wickets in the final over, with one ball to spare.

The result has now seen Virat Kohli's men yet to register a victory away from home in this edition of the IPL. RCB are currently second in the table with 12 points from 10 games, trailing table toppers CSK by four points.

The last time these two sides met in Bangalore saw Chris Gayle scoring 175 runs in 67 deliveries and Kohli would be banking on the hard hitting batsman to fire once again in order to register their first away victory of this edition on the IPL.

Yuvraj Singh
Reuters

Team Form

Pune Warriors Inda

    • Last Five most recent first): L L L L L
    • Last Result: Pune Warriros India lost to Chennai Super Kings by 37 runs

Royal Challengers Bangalore

    • Last Five (most recent first): L L W W W
    • Last Result: Royal Challengers lost to Rajasthan Royals by four wickets

Team News

The Warriors will have a few worries during the game against Bangalore on Tuesday. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, along with Kane Richardson and Ashok Dinda will lead Pune's pace attack. The trio and spinner Rahul Sharma will have a huge task to get rid of the dangerous Gayle as early as possible. Steven Smith and Luke Wright will have a huge role to play in their side's middle order while Uthappa could retain his place in the squad as a wicket-keeping batsman.

Abhinav Mukund is likely to retain his position and could partner with Gayle to lead RCB from the top. Tillakaratne Dilshan could be replaced by all rounder Moses Henriques in the playing XI while AB de Villiers would be given a role behind the stumps as the South African will have a crucial role to play in the Bangalore's middle order.

The visitors could go with the pace attack with just one spinner in the team. Ravi Rampaul, Kumar, RP Singh and Jaydev Unadkat will lead their bowling attack while Murali Karthik is likely to be dropped, with Syed Mohammed being replaced in his place.

India