Royal Challengers Bangalore host Kings XI Punjab in the first game of the IPL today, with the hosts keen on clinching a win to keep their hopes of making it to the play-offs alive.

Punjab's David Miller against RCB
IPL

Where to Watch Live

The match starts at 11.30am BST, with ITV 4 and ITV 4 HD providing live coverage in the UK. Follow the game live, via text commentary, on ESPN Cricinfo. You can watch the highlights of the match here.

Overview

Bangalore, who looked shoo-ins for a top two spot a few weeks ago, are now fourth in the league table, just above Sunrisers Hyderabad on net run rate. They lost four of their last six matches, all on the road. The Challengers were beaten by Kolkata Knight Riders by five wickets at Ranchi on Sunday, after they managed to post only a modest total of 115.

However, Ray Jennings' side now return to the comforts of home with a perfect record at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium this season. Their play-offs fate is still very much in their own hands and Bangalore will be keen to post a win today against Punjab, with tournament favourites Chennai Super Kings set to visit them at the weekend.

The Kings XI, on the other hand, sit seventh in the table, only above Delhi Daredevils and Pune Warriors. They lost their last match to play-off rivals Surisers Hyderbad by 30 runs at home, after failing to chase down a target of 151.

Punjab do, however, still have an outside chance of making it to the play-offs but at this late stage it looks nothing more than a mathematical possibility. Darren Lehmann will still lookto finish the campaign on a high and spoil a few parties along the way, starting at Bangalore today.

The Kings XI won the reverse fixture by six wickets last week, chasing down a target of 190, thanks to David Miller's 38-ball century.

Form Guide

Royal Challengers Bangalore(most recent first): L W L W L

Kings XI Punjab (most recent first): L L W L L

Team News

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Zaheer Khan is an injury doubt while fellow pacer Sreenath Aravind is sidelined for the hosts.

Probable Line-up: C Pujara, C Gayle, V Kohli (c), AB de Villiers (wk), M Henriques, S Tiwary, R Rampaul, V Kumar, M Kartik, RP Singh, J Unadkat

Kings XI Punjab: Lehmann has no injury or fitness worries and has a full squad available at his disposal.

Probable Line-up: A Gilchrist (c & wk), Mandeep Singh, S Marsh, D Hussey, D Miller, R Satish, P Chawla, P Kumar, Harmeet Singh, P Awana, S Sharma