IPL match today, RCB vs PBKS: Team Prediction, head to head, M Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch report, weather in Bengaluru

Royal Challengers Bengaluru faces Punjab Kings tonight, aiming to break their home losing streak in IPL 2025. Despite winning all away matches, RCB struggles at Chinnaswamy Stadium due to sluggish pitches and dew. Their pace attack, particularly Josh Hazlewood, has underperformed at home.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) are still struggling to find their footing at home in IPL 2025. They have successfully secured victories in all four of their away matches, which makes their twin defeats at home, the Chinnaswamy Stadium, not a big concern.

However, tonight (April 18) they face one of the league’s most dynamic powerplay teams to avoid letting a two-match losing streak, as Rajat Patidar put it, become a three-match trend.

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There’s a clear pattern in those home defeats: RCB lost the toss both times and was forced to bat first, scoring 169 for 8 and 163 for 7 on sluggish pitches that became more favourable for chasing teams due to the dew in Bengaluru. In their last home game against Delhi Capitals, Phil Salt’s explosive start, helping RCB score 50 runs in just three overs, was a strategic attempt to capitalise on the new ball under difficult conditions.

In addition to the batting struggles, RCB’s pace attack has also faced challenges at Chinnaswamy. Josh Hazlewood has decent overall statistics, with nine wickets and an economy rate of 8.65, but his performance at home has been subpar, with just one wicket and an economy of 12.1.

Their opponents, Punjab Kings (PBKS), boast significant power at the top of their batting order. Priyansh Arya (216) and Shreyas Iyer (205) have the highest and third-highest strike rates, respectively, among players who have faced at least 50 balls this season.

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PBKS arrive in Bengaluru on a high, having recently achieved the lowest successful defense in IPL history against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Yuzvendra Chahal, the Player of the Match in that game, had a standout performance with a four-wicket haul. A former RCB player, Chahal remains the all-time leading wicket-taker at this venue.

Currently, RCB and PBKS sit third and fourth in the league standings, respectively. The winner of this matchup will advance to ten points, tying them with Delhi Capitals at the top, before they face each other again on Sunday afternoon in New Chandigarh.

IPL: RCB mentor Karthik questions Chinnaswamy pitch after twin defeats

Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch isn’t batters paradise and graveyard for the bowlers it used to be. The pitches so far have been two-paced and RCB haven’t gone past 170 runs while batting first in both games.

RCB predicted XII: Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Suyash Sharma

PBKS predicted XII: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nehal Wadhera, Josh Inglis (wk)/Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Shashank Singh, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak/Yash Thakur

Poll

Will RCB break their home losing streak against PBKS tonight?

No, they will loseYes, they will win

RCB squad: Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (w), Krunal Pandya, Tim David, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Rasikh Dar Salam, Suyash Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh, Abhinandan Singh, Romario Shepherd, Lungi Ngidi, Nuwan Thushara, Mohit Rathee, Swastik Chikara

PBKS squad: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh (w), Shreyas Iyer (c), Marcus Stoinis, Nehal Wadhera, Glenn Maxwell, Shashank Singh, Marco Jansen, Arshdeep Singh, Lockie Ferguson, Yuzvendra Chahal, Yash Thakur, Suryansh Shedge, Praveen Dubey, Azmatullah Omarzai, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Josh Inglis, Xavier Bartlett, Vishnu Vinod, Aaron Hardie, Kuldeep Sen, Harpreet Brar, Harnoor Singh, Musheer Khan, Pyla Avinash

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RCB and PBKS have met 33 times in the IPL. Of them, RCB have won 16 and PBKS have triumphed in 17 matches. RCB have won their last three meetings, including two last season.

The Chinnaswamy pitch curator attributes the slowness of the surface to high heat and low humidity in Bengaluru, though recent rain and cooler evenings may change that a bit.

Get the latest IPL 2025 updates on Times of India, including match schedules, team squads, points table and IPL live score for CSK, MI, RCB, KKR, SRH, LSG, DC, GT, PBKS, and RR. Don’t miss the list of players in the race for IPL Orange Cap and IPL Purple cap.

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