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Highlights, Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Gujarat Lions IPL 2017, Match 31: GL keep hopes of qualifying for playoffs alive

Both Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Lions cannot afford to lose another match as it would hamper their chances of making it to the playoffs.

rcb-vs-gl

Hello and welcome to CricketCountry’s coverage of Match 31 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017 between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Gujarat Lions (GL) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. I am Pramod Ananth and I will be bringing you the live updates of this exciting encounter. RCB have the upper hand over GL, having beaten them three out of four times. RCB eased past GL earlier in this season as well, beating their opponents by 21 runs at Rajkot, thanks to fifties from Chris Gayle and skipper Virat Kohli. GL currently lie in the bottom of the table, while RCB are just two places above them in the sixth position. Full Cricket Scorecard: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) vs Gujarat Lions (GL) IPL 2017, Match 31 at Bengaluru

Both teams need a win today to stay alive in the tournament. One more loss for either side could potentially ruin their chances of making it to the playoffs. RCB and GL are not even close to having the sort of season they had last year. While RCB finished as runners-up, GL topped the table at the end of the group stages in 2016. Injury has hampered both teams’ chances. RCB started the season without Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, but the likes of KL Rahul and Sarfaraz Khan have been ruled out of the tournament due to injuries. While Vishnu Vinod was named Rahul’s replacement, Hapreet Singh, who went unsold due to mistaken identity in the IPL 2017 auction, has been named as Sarfaraz’s replacement. RCB vs GL IPL 2017, Match 31: Preview

GL too started the season without all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, but were dealt with a severe blow when they learnt that their star overseas all-rounder Dwayne Bravo will not participate in this edition of the IPL due to an injury. Irfan Pathan as a result has been named Bravo’s replacement. GL skipper Suresh Raina has mentioned that his bowlers need to step up and restrict the opposition batsmen as it will be difficult for his batsmen to chase down 180 to 190 every match. We might see a shake-up in GL’s bowling attack today as a result.

Squads:

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (c), Shane Watson, Chris Gayle, Stuart Binny, Sreenath Aravind, Kedar Jadhav (wk), Mandeep Singh, Adam Milne, Yuzvendra Chahal, Pawan Negi, Travis Head, AB de Villiers, Samuel Badree, Iqbal Abdulla, Tymal Mills, Harshal Patel, Aniket Choudhary, Sachin Baby, Harpreet Singh, Billy Stanlake, Avesh Khan, Tabraiz Shamsi, Praveen Dubey, Vishnu Vinod

Gujarat Lions: Suresh Raina (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Smith, Ravindra Jadeja, Aaron Finch, Akshdeep Nath, Andrew Tye, Basil Thampi, Nathu Singh, Shubham Agarwal, Munaf Patel, Praveen Kumar, Manpreet Gony, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Shah, Pradeep Sangwan, Shadab Bashir Jakati, Jason Roy, James Faulkner, Chirag Suri, Ishan Kishan, Anki Soni, Tejas Baroka, Pratham Singh, Shelley Shaurya, Irfan Pathan

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