Playoffs berth at stake for Royals against RCB

Bengaluru, April 29 (IANS) Having won their last two fixtures in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), Rajasthan Royals will be hoping for another win and keep their slim chances of making it to the playoffs alive when they take on Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, here on Tuesday.

With 10 points from 12 games, Rajasthan are currently languishing at the second last spot in the points table. They would be hoping to continue their winning streak after securing victories in their last two matches against Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

After Tuesday's game, skipper Steve Smith would be leaving for Australia to join the national camp ahead of the upcoming World Cup. And thus, he would be desperate to end his IPL 2019 campaign on a winning note.

On the other hand, RCB are now out of the contention of making it to the playoffs after losing to table toppers Delhi Capitals in their last game. RCB captain Virat Kohli has already insisted that they would like to remain positive in the remaining two matches and would be playing a positive brand of cricket.

"The important thing now, with two games left, is to go out there and have fun. Not take too much pressure. Obviously we want to perform as best as we can, but the fun factor should not go away," Kohli said after the Delhi game.

"We put ourselves under too much pressure in the first six games and then it is always hard work in the latter half. We have to go out there and play positive cricket. Once the last two games are done, sit down and see where the tournament goes," he added.

Squads

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Parthiv Patel (wk), AB de Villiers, Tim Southee, Virat Kohli (c), Umesh Yadav, Moeen Ali, Yuzvendra Chahal, Colin de Grandhomme, Pawan Negi, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Akshdeep Nath, Milind Kumar, Marcus Stoinis, Navdeep Saini, Shimron Hetmyer, Heinrich Klaasen, Himmat Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Kulwant Khejroliya, Devdutt Padikkal, Prayas Barman

Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane , Dhawal Kulkarni, Stuart Binny, Steven Smith (c), Varun Aaron, Jaydev Unadkat, Sanju Samson (wk), Manan Vohra, Prashant Chopra, Ashton Turner, Ish Sodhi, Krishnappa Gowtham, Rahul Tripathi, Shreyas Gopal, Liam Livingstone, Shashank Singh, Mahipal Lomror, Shubham Ranjane, Oshane Thomas, Riyan Parag, Aryaman Birla, Sudhesan Midhun