Virat Kohli
RCB captain Virat Kohli is top of the charts for runs scored in the 2016 IPL season despite his team's poor form DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP/Getty Images

Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Mumbai Indians in the 44th match of the 2016 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on 14 May (Saturday).

Where to watch live

Match starts at 11.30am BST/4pm IST. Live coverage of the game is available on Sky Sports 5 and Sky Sports 5 HD in the UK. Sony Max, Sony Six and Sony ESPN will telecast it live in India.

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Overview

Royal Challengers play their second consecutive home game following their loss to Mumbai Indians on Wednesday (11 May) with their hopes of qualifying for the playoffs hanging by a thread. Virat Kohli's team have to win all their remaining four games to have a chance of making the latter stages of the tournament but face an uphill task against an in-form Gujarat Lions, who after a slight slump have got back to winning ways.

While Virat Kohli leads the run charts this season, his team's bowling is below par, owing to injuries to Mitchell Starc and Samuel Badree. They lack a strike bowler to get wickets at the start, while their death bowling is also below par. They have been unable to defend totals as high as 180. Chris Gayle's form has also been woeful, which has seen him let chance after chance go a begging. He is likely to be dropped for the remaining four matches with Travis Head returning to the team.

The Lions, on the other hand, are one of the form teams in the league led by Suresh Raina. They have quite a settled line-up and match winners in both the batting and bowling department. They started the tournament in blistering fashion, winning six of their opening seven games but suffered a mid-season slump when they lost their next three. The Gujarat team, however, have recovered and won their previous game against the Kolkata Knight Riders, which will bode well ahead of their trip to Bangalore on Saturday.

Prediction

Gujarat Lions to win

Betting odds (betfair)

  • RCB to win: 4/5
  • GJL to win: 20/21

Team news

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Possible XI: Virat Kohli (C), AB de Villiers, Chris Jordan, KL Rahul (wk), Mandeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Varun Aaron, Shane Watson, Stuart Binny, Travis Head, Sreenath Aravind.

Gujarat Lions

Possible XI: Dwayne Smith, Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch, Suresh Raina (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Ishan Kishan, Praveen Kumar, Dhawan Kulkarni, Shivil Kaushik.