Rising Pune Supergiants vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL 2016, Match 16 at Pune: RCB’s likely XI

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) made as many as six changes in their previous match against Mumbai Indians (MI). RCB take on Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) in their next match and will look to end their losing streak. They have lost their previous two matches, having beaten Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the first match. They made some sensible changes in the match against MI, but perhaps need to make one or two more changes in this match, which will hold them in good stead. Chris Gayle will miss this match as well as he flew back home for the birth of his child. Here are the likely XI for RCB for the match against RPS.  FULL SCORECARD: Rising Pune Supergiants vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL 2016, Match 16 at Pune

Top-Order: KL Rahul played very well in his first match and he will continue to open with Virat Kohli. Kohli has been in good form in this edition of the IPL and will be entrusted once again to get RCB off to a good start. With AB de Villiers coming in at No. 3, RCB should make the most of his ability to smash the ball around and scoring runs at a brisk pace. Gayle misses this game, but should return to the side for the next match.

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Middle-order: Shane Watson has been the one, who ensures that the momentum of the innings does not drop after RCBtumble in a hurry after either de Villiers or Kohli go ballistic. He failed with the bat in the previous match, but is an integral part of RCB’s batting line-up. Travis Head was the top-scorer on his IPL debut. That may prompt Kohli to send him ahead of Watson, which will entirely depend on the situation of the match. Sarfaraz Khan can play those little cameos, which may eventually make a difference of about 20-30 runs, just like it did in the match first match of RCB against SRH. Rising Pune Supergiants vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL 2016, Match 16 at Pune: Preview

Stuart Binny may get another shot in the middle-order, but he will have to make his opportunity count. He bowled just one over for eight and could not do much with the bat as he came at the closing stages of the innings. If needed, Stuart Binny can open the bowling with either Varun Aaron or Kane Richardson.

Bowlers: It will be a surprise if Harshal Patel retains his place in the playing XI. He is prone to conceding boundaries and has had very little success in IPL 2016 so far. Pervez Rasool can take his place in the side, which will not only give the team an extra spinner, but he too can swing his bat around down the order, if needed. Richardson on his RCB debut started things off well, removing Parthiv Patel in the initial stages, but Kieron Pollard tore him apart in the end. He will mostly retain his place.

Varun Aaron had an ordinary game against MI, but it may be harsh to axe him after just one bad match. He may get the nod, but if not Abu Nechim could get a chance to play his first game of the match. Nechim bowls at decent pace as well and might turn out to be the right person to partner Richardson.

RCB’s likely XI against RPS: Virat Kohli (c), KL Rahul (wk), AB de Villiers, Shane Watson, Travis Head, Sarfaraz Khan, Stuart Binny, Pervez Rasool, Kane Richardson, Iqbal Abdullah, Varun Aaron/ Abu Nechim.

(Pramod Ananth is a reporter at CricketCountry. He has represented Karnataka table tennis under-15, and is a hardcore supporter of Liverpool FC. His Twitter handle is @pramz)