Punjab Kings will have to play with their skins to get their stuttering campaign back on track when they face the high-flying Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League in Ahmedabad on Friday.

After four defeats and two wins, Punjab are currently sixth in the league table with four points, while RCB are in second place with 10 points from five wins, just behind the Chennai Super Kings at net run rate.

Apart from the only defeat against CSK, RCB have emerged as strong contenders for a maiden IPL title, with many of their players in strike form as the tournament progresses.

The Punjab bowlers could not do much due to lack of enough runs in the board against KKR. But the bowling unit lacks aggression. It was unable to defend 195 against the Delhi Capitals and nearly defended the Rajasthan Royals by defending 221, eventually winning by four runs.

On the other hand, RCB will be high on confidence as they hold their nerves to trample the Delhi capitals one by one. While it was now de Villiers who batted once again, the bowlers made a collective effort to give RCB their fifth win of the season.

Pitch Report:

Over 340 runs were scored in the match between Bangalore and Delhi here in Ahmedabad, which tells us that the pitch will assist the batsmen. Batting first will be comparatively tougher than chasing.

Head to Head stat:

Total played: 26, Royal Challengers Bangalore: 14, Punjab Kings: 12

Probable Playing XIs for PBKS vs RCB:

Punjab Kings:

Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (C and WK), Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Shahrukh Khan, Moises Henriques, Chris Jordan, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami.

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell, Washington Sundar, Daniel Sams, Kyle Jamieson,  Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammad Siraj.

Today’s match prediction:

Royal Challengers Bangalore to win the match.