🏏IPL 2025-RCB vs Gujarat Titans, Match-14 7:30 PM IST 🏏

🏏IPL 2025-Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Gujarat Titans, Match 14th 7:30 PM at Bengaluru🏏

Red-hot RCB bank on home advantage to make it three in a row

Gujarat Titans may be facing an over-reliance on the top order they need to sort out

Virat Kohli and Sunil Chhetri, two of India's biggest sporting icons, will be playing within 2kms of each other on Wednesday evening. This prospect has the traffic cops working overtime to ensure seamless traffic management in Bengaluru.

Inside the Chinnaswamy, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Gujarat Titans (GT) were queuing up for sessions for range hitting in their respective halves. The centre of the surface was cordoned off for the curator, who it seems has also worked overtime. The WPL finished three weeks ago, but the heat and dryness has only meant the pitches here have looked a lot browner than usual. If it remains that way, RCB won't mind that. They come home on the back of two straight wins to kick-off the season. This has happened only twice earlier, in 2014 and 2021. Along the way, their performances have elicited questions on the (lack of) "home advantage" factor in Kolkata and Chennai.

In any other season, this perceived lack of home advantage may have been telling for RCB. This time promises to be different. It was at the Chinnaswamy that RCB sealed an unreal run to the playoffs last year - winning three out of their last six games back-to-back at home.

This year, RCB believe they have built a squad that can take these unforgiving pitches out of the equation. A gun pace attack, a defensive spinner who sticks to a set template, and a line-up that bats deep. It's for them to prove now that home advantage is real.

It's amid the deafening crowd support for RCB that GT will have to sift through several combinations. Is there a case for Jos Buttler to open with Shubman Gill just to give their powerplay a bit more impetus? There's also a sense their middle order is slightly undercooked, perhaps Nos. 4 and 5 are spots a tad high for Shahrukh Khan and Sherfane Rutherford.

With David Miller not retained and Rahul Tewatia not in the same hitting form he once was, there could be an over-reliance on the top order they need to mitigate. The bowling, though, is capable of stepping up. Prasidh Krishna comes back home - he plays for Karnataka - and Mohammed Siraj returns to a venue that was his IPL home for the last seven years. Rashid Khan is capable of doing Rashid Khan things irrespective of whether there is grip or turn.

RCB's return to Chinnaswamy poses a familiar challenge - can they shake off their home-ground woes? Despite a strong start to IPL 2025 with two away wins, their struggles at home remain a concern. With a sub-50% win record in Bengaluru, they've looked to address this through smart auction buys, particularly in the bowling department

"I think everybody knows what to expect from a surface here in Bangalore. It's a good wicket, we know it's a pretty short boundary, we know the ball carries and flies, so they're typically high scoring games... We've recruited a team that we think is pretty powerful, we hope we can exploit those batting conditions. And we think we've got a bowling attack that's particularly skilful and that can deal with the challenge of bowling here. Attacking here, but also defending here," explained Mo Bobat, the RCB team director.

Having won two games away, RCB are at the top of the points table but as the numbers suggest, they could be in for a ticky challenge on their homecoming where they'd be waiting to see if their judgement pre-season bears fruit.

What would ease their nerves is the good form shown by almost all their players over the two games, additionally showcasing a role clarity that is working towards making them a stronger collective. Phil Salt's firepower in the powerplay along with spin-hitters in the middle and a powerful finisher in Tim David, RCB's batting line-up has clicked well so far, as has their bowling unit which will have their task cut out against an in-form Gujarat Titans top order.

The visiting team has been heavily dependent on their top three so far but, like RCB, have most fronts covered, on paper at least. A well-rounded bowling unit adds to their strengths although they'd be waiting for more of their players to hit form and play to potential.

When: Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Gujarat Titans, Match 14, April 2, 19.30 IST

Where: M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

What to expect? There has been forecast for some rain around in Bengaluru. How that would affect the playing conditions and influence the decision at the toss is awaited. The ground has seen some assistance for seamers across formats in recent times.

Head to head: RCB 3 - 2 GT

Team news and likely XII

RCB will only probably have to ponder whether Suyash Sharma fits into their plans as an Impact Sub. It'll likely be a toss-up between him and Rasikh Dar, who brings with him improved death-bowling skills.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (probable): 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Phil Salt, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Rajat Patidar (capt), 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 7 Tim David, 8 Krunal Pandya, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Yash Dayal, 12 Suyash Sharma/Rasikh Dar

GT will have a close watch on Sai Sudharsan, who appeared to have injured his hamstring while fielding against MI. If he isn't fit to play, they could bring in Anuj Rawat.

Gujarat Titans (probable): 1 Sai Sudharsan/Anuj Rawat, 2 Shubman Gill (capt), 3 Jos Buttler, 4 Sherfane Rutherford, 5 Shahrukh Khan, 6 Rahul Tewatia, 7 Rashid Khan, 8 Kagiso Rabada, 9 R Sai Kishore, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Prasidh Krishna, 12 Ishant Sharma

Big question

Since IPL 2023, the Chinnaswamy has the fifth-worst average and third-worst economy rate for legspinners. It's under this backdrop RCB may wonder if they should hold back Suyash Sharma, while trusting Liam Livingstone and Krunal Pandya to do the job. This could allow them to bring in either Swapnil Singh or Rasikh Dar as the Impact Sub.

In the Spotlight: Devdutt Padikkal and Shubman Gill

After struggling for rhythm and stability at Lucknow Super Giants and Rajasthan Royals, Devdutt Padikkal returns to RCB with renewed impetus on big-hitting from get-go. Traces of this were amply on display against Chennai Super Kings, when he took on the spinners to make a quickfire 14-ball 27. Padikkal has been designated to play the role Shivam Dube plays for CSK. Only time will tell if he is able to deliver with the same kind of consistency.

Shubman Gill's start to this season has been promising; he is striking at 173.17 after two games. His struggles in the powerplay and away games, where he averaged just 20.75 with a strike rate of 115.28, hurt GT last year. However, he returns to a high-scoring venue, where he previously scored a 52-ball 104 in the last encounter between the two sides.

Did you know?

- Kohli's 3456 runs at Chinnaswamy is the most by a player at a venue in T20 cricket. He also has a good record against Gujarat Titans hitting three fifties and one hundred in five innings

- Sai Sudharsan has five fifty-plus scores in his last six innings in the IPL

Pitch and conditions

Teams haven't experienced much dew over the past two days. As far as the surface goes, Mo Bobat, RCB's director, expects it to be a "typical Bengaluru pitch" full of runs. For what it's worth, 200 wasn't breached even once in seven knockout games of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s here in December. Ditto with the seven WPL games, where spinners were able to extract some bite off the surface.

Key stats

RCB have a 50% win record at home in IPL since 2023. This is the sixth best among all teams. CSK and MI top the charts with a win percentage of 64.70 and 60 respectively.

Among the 15 batters who scored 175 or more runs in the powerplays in IPL 2024, Gill's strike rate of 131.08 was the lowest. This year in two games, he is striking at 203.12 in that phase.

For someone with Tewatia's ability, he faces fewer deliveries than he should. In 2022, he averaged 12.3 balls per innings. It was 5.7 in 2023, and 14.3 in 2024. With Miller not part of the squad, is there a case for him to bat higher?

What they said?

"There is a lot of planning that goes in before we get out on the pitch. But the advantage of having somebody like Gill right there is that you can go up to him and ask him, what do you think is a better line length to be bowling on this pitch? What would you do? So it's nice to have Gill and every other experienced player around. There's Jos that's keeping, there's Siraj, there's KG. Everybody has played a lot of cricket. Ishant Sharma also came in the last game..And as a team, if you can discuss, have the communication going, it really helps. And Shubman is a guy that I've known for quite some time now. And it's really easy for any of us to go approach him and get his feedback." - Prasidh Krishna on working with Shubman Gill, the captain.

"I think it's been pretty good. The main thing you want to see from any leader or captain is typically that they continue to let their personality come across. And I think he's done that really well. We don't want him to become a captain and be anybody else. We want him to be himself. So very calm, inwardly and outwardly. He rarely, if ever, takes a backward step. And we've seen that with his batting, particularly in the day at CSK. Every time we lost a wicket, he continued to throw punches, which was really good. And he seems to have coped with all the other stuff that comes with captaincy really well as well in some busy times. So at the minute I think he's been excellent. He's done everything I hoped and expected him to be. We know it's early days. There's a lot of cricket left to be played. And when we get through the busy part of the schedule and the fixtures come thick and fast. And no doubt we'll have some challenges at some point in the season. That'll be a time where we've really got to be there to support him. But at the minute he's been very impressive." - Mo Bobat, RCB Team Director, on new captain Rajat Patidar.

Tactics and match-ups: They'd have little reason to change a winning combination that also gives them plenty of balance. Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar against Gujarat's strong top-order will be a match-up to watch out for. While Hazlewood's hard lengths have worked well in the IPL so far, he could face his stiffest challenge against the likes of Gill, Buttler and Sudharsan who have a positive record against these lengths. However, Bhuvneshwar has a good record against them dismissing Buttler seven times and Gill thrice.

Gujarat Titans

Tactics and match-ups: The batting has been shored by the top three that has contributed in both games, allowing them to cross 200 in the first and nearly get there again in the next game. On the bowling front, their spinners could face a stiff challenge on an unforgiving ground against some in-form batters. Rashid Khan and R Sai Kishore against the likes of Rajat Patidar, who is amongst the best spin-hitters going around, could be an action-packed match-up.