The city of Bangalore is hosting Kings XI Punjab in the only match schedule for today. Royal challenger Bangalore team after having lost to Kolkata Knight Riders is placed fifth in the points tally. They have nine points from as many matches. On the other hand, Kings XI Punjab is placed second from last in the points tally, with eight points in nine matches.

The match against Kolkata Knight Riders should come as an eye opener for the Bangalore team. Royal Challenger Bangalore has the best batting lineup in this tournament- Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli. Their lost to Kolkata Knight Riders by a margin of 47 runs should be an eye opener.

The bowling has been lack luster; they found it very hard to tackle the spin of the Kolkata Knight Riders spinners. Today’s match would provide the Bangalore the ideal opportunity to come back in the tournament. A win would take them to third position in the points tally, just behind Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders.

The Chinnaswamy stadium offers a flat batting track; it would be ideally suited for the Royal Challenger Bangalore team.  On the other hand, Kings XI Punjab team, have staged many upsets in away matches. They have defeated some of the big-wigs of the tournament on their home soil.

Kings XI Punjab could breathe a sigh of relief as they are expecting their Captain, batsmen, wicket keeper, coach, mentor to be back in the playing XI. Adam Gilchrist lost out on previous four matches due to hamstring injuries. They could also have Ryan Harris, the Australia fast bowler who was an ever-present in their campaign last season, back in the squad after the West Indies Test series.

Azhar  Mahmood would be the key player of the match. After getting his visa issue resolved, he would be looking to entertain the Bangalore crowd with his display of bat and bowl. His superb knock of 33 runs on 14 deliveries against the Bangalore team provided some crucial confidence boost to the ailing Kings XI Punjab.

His performance with the ball in the match against Chennai Super Kings was instrumental in the win for Kings XI Punjab. Stats and trivia  •Royal Challengers have won five of their last six matches against Kings XI, after losing their first three. At home, they have a 2-1 record, winning in 2010 and 2011, and losing in 2008.

•Shaun Marsh is the leading run-scorer in matches between these two teams, with 224 runs in six innings at an average of 56 and a strike rate of 133.33. Gayle has played three innings against Kings XI, with scores of 107 (49 balls), 0 (7) and 87 (56). •Piyush Chawla has taken 14 wickets against Royal Challengers at an average of 15.92 and an economy rate of 6.75. Only three bowlers have taken more wickets against an opposition team in the IPL.

Teams: Royal Challengers Bangalore squad DL Vettori*, MA Agarwal, KP Appanna, S Aravind, KB Arun Karthik, RR Bhatkal, AB de Villiers, TM Dilshan, CM Gautam, CH Gayle, M Kaif, AA Kazi, Z Khan, V Kohli, CK Langeveldt, AB McDonald, A Mithun, M Muralitharan, KK Nair, DP Nannes, R Ninan, HV Patel, AUK Pathan, LA Pomersbach†, CA Pujara, RR Rossouw, J Syed Mohammad, S Thiyagarajan, SS Tiwary, R Vinay Kumar, VH Zol

Kings XI Punjab squad AC Gilchrist*†, P Awana, KJ Abbott, L Ablish, Amit Yadav, Azhar Mahmood, BA Bhatt, Bipul Sharma, PP Chawla, SD Chitnis, BCJ Cutting, P Dogra, JP Faulkner, Gurkeerat Singh, Harmeet Singh, RJ Harris, DJ Hussey, P Kumar, VS Malik, Mandeep Singh, SE Marsh, AD Mascarenhas, DA Miller, AM Nayar, RR Powar, NJ Rimmington, N Saini, SJ Srivastava, Sunny Singh, PC Valthaty