Big Picture
Virat Kohli and Sunil Chhetri, two of India's biggest sporting icons, will be playing within 2kms of each other on Wednesday evening. This prospect has the traffic cops working overtime to ensure seamless traffic management in Bengaluru.
Inside the Chinnaswamy, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Gujarat Titans (GT) were queuing up for sessions for range hitting in their respective halves. The centre of the surface was cordoned off for the curator, who it seems has also worked overtime.
The WPL finished three weeks ago, but the heat and dryness has only meant the pitches here have looked a lot browner than usual. If it remains that way, RCB won't mind that. They come home on the back of two straight wins to kick-off the season. This has happened only twice earlier, in 2014 and 2021. Along the way, their performances have elicited questions on the (lack of) "home advantage" factor in Kolkata and Chennai.
In any other season, this perceived lack of home advantage may have been telling for RCB. This time promises to be different. It was at the Chinnaswamy that RCB sealed an unreal run to the playoffs last year - winning three out of their last six games back-to-back at home.
This year, RCB believe they have built a squad that can take these unforgiving pitches out of the equation. A gun pace attack, a defensive spinner who sticks to a set template, and a line-up that bats deep. It's for them to prove now that home advantage is real.
It's amid the deafening crowd support for RCB that GT will have to sift through several combinations. Is there a case for Jos Buttler to open with Shubman Gill just to give their powerplay a bit more impetus? There's also a sense their middle order is slightly undercooked, perhaps Nos. 4 and 5 are spots a tad high for Shahrukh Khan and Sherfane Rutherford.
With David Miller not retained and Rahul Tewatia not in the same hitting form he once was, there could be an over-reliance on the top order they need to mitigate. The bowling, though, is capable of stepping up. Prasidh Krishna comes back home - he plays for Karnataka - and Mohammed Siraj returns to a venue that was his IPL home for the last seven years. Rashid Khan is capable of doing Rashid Khan things irrespective of whether there is grip or turn.
He feels Siraj's wobble-seam deliveries will be tough to deal with
New loyalties
Siraj, the man RCB fans affectionally call 'Miyaan' or 'DSP', is now with GT. Siraj was RCB's joint-highest wicket-taker in IPL 2024. Anuj Rawat, Sherfane Rutherford and Mahipal Lomror have all played for RCB previously. Since leaving, this will be the first time they will face off against their former franchise.
Team news and likely XII
RCB will only probably have to ponder whether Suyash Sharma fits into their plans as an Impact Sub. It'll likely be a toss-up between him and Rasikh Dar, who brings with him improved death-bowling skills.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (probable): 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Phil Salt, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Rajat Patidar (capt), 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 7 Tim David, 8 Krunal Pandya, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Yash Dayal, 12 Suyash Sharma/Rasikh Dar
GT will have a close watch on Sai Sudharsan, who appeared to have injured his hamstring while fielding against MI. If he isn't fit to play, they could bring in Anuj Rawat.
Gujarat Titans (probable): 1 Sai Sudharsan/Anuj Rawat, 2 Shubman Gill (capt), 3 Jos Buttler, 4 Sherfane Rutherford, 5 Shahrukh Khan, 6 Rahul Tewatia, 7 Rashid Khan, 8 Kagiso Rabada, 9 R Sai Kishore, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Prasidh Krishna, 12 Ishant Sharma
Big question
Since IPL 2023, the Chinnaswamy has the fifth-worst average and third-worst economy rate for legspinners. It's under this backdrop RCB may wonder if they should hold back Suyash Sharma, while trusting Liam Livingstone and Krunal Pandya to do the job. This could allow them to bring in either Swapnil Singh or Rasikh Dar as the Impact Sub.
In the Spotlight: Devdutt Padikkal and Shubman Gill
After struggling for rhythm and stability at Lucknow Super Giants and Rajasthan Royals, Devdutt Padikkal returns to RCB with renewed impetus on big-hitting from get-go. Traces of this were amply on display against Chennai Super Kings, when he took on the spinners to make a quickfire 14-ball 27. Padikkal has been designated to play the role Shivam Dube plays for CSK. Only time will tell if he is able to deliver with the same kind of consistency.
A look at how the Gujarat Titans captain has led from the front so far
Shubman Gill's start to this season has been promising; he is striking at 173.17 after two games. His struggles in the powerplay and away games, where he averaged just 20.75 with a strike rate of 115.28, hurt GT last year. However, he returns to a high-scoring venue, where he previously scored a 52-ball 104 in 2023.
Pitch and conditions
Teams haven't experienced much dew over the past two days. As far as the surface goes, Mo Bobat, RCB's director, expects it to be a "typical Bengaluru pitch" full of runs. For what it's worth, 200 wasn't breached even once in seven knockout games of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s here in December. Ditto with the seven WPL games, where spinners were able to extract some bite off the surface.
Key stats
RCB have a 50% win record at home in IPL since 2023. This is the sixth best among all teams. CSK and MI top the charts with a win percentage of 64.70 and 60 respectively.
Among the 15 batters who scored 175 or more runs in the powerplays in IPL 2024, Gill's strike rate of 131.08 was the lowest. This year in two games, he is striking at 203.12 in that phase.
For someone with Tewatia's ability, he faces fewer deliveries than he should. In 2022, he averaged 12.3 balls per innings. It was 5.7 in 2023, and 14.3 in 2024. With Miller not part of the squad, is there a case for him to bat higher?
Next three fixtures
RCB don't play more than two continuous home fixtures in the first half. After Wednesday, they play Mumbai Indians away on April 7 before returning home to play Delhi Capitals on April 10.
After the game against RCB, GT hop on a short flight to play Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 6 before returning home to Rajasthan Royals on April 9.
Quotes
"He's so very calm, inwardly and outwardly. He rarely, if ever, takes a backward step. And we've seen that with his batting, particularly against CSK. And he seems to have coped with all the other stuff that comes with captaincy really well. So at the minute I think he's been excellent."
RCB team director Mo Bobat is impressed with Rajat Patidar's captaincy
"As much as I try to tell myself that it's just another tournament, just another game, I did feel that I'm coming in after a few years and especially coming in not having played a lot of T20s in the last two years. Because the pace of the game has changed from 2022 to 2025."
Bengaluru boy and GT pace bowler Prasidh Krishna on returning to the IPL after two seasons because of injury
