Royal Challengers Bangalore and Pune Warriors are two different type of teams. RCB gives a settled look with an acceptable and successful captain, Virat Kohli. Warriors are struggling to select a captain who is in good form too. RCB has batsmen and bowler wearing the Orange and Purple Cap, and facing competition from their own team members, a good sign for more success in future. Warriors have no players except Finch and B Kumar to show case. Result is not much difficult to predict, unless X-Factor Yuvraj Singh decides to join the party of biggies that Sehwag started, Watson and Raina followed yesterday.
History
They have met thrice in last two seasons and RCB has won all of them. The only time they came close was when RCB sealed a win from the jaws of defeat by hitting 21 runs in the last over.
Head-to-Head RCB 3, PWI 0
2011
- RCB won by 26 runs, MOM: Virat Kohli
2012
- RCB won by 6 wickets, MOM: Gayle
RCB won by 35 runs, MOM: Gayle
2013 Performances
RCB is going strong with 5 wins and being placed at the second position on the table. Warriors on the other hand have lost some close matches and after 7 matches they have only 2 wins to show against 5 losses.
RCB Match Results
PWI Match Results
Overall IPL Performances
- In their first IPL in 2011 Pune finished 9th with 4 wins and 9 losses.
Even in 2nd IPL in 2012 their number of wins remained same. They had 4 wins and 12 losses.
In 2008, RCB finished second from the bottom winning 4 matches and Lost 10.
In 2009, RCB finished 2nd best registering 9 wins and 7 losses.
In 2010, RCB finished 3rd winning 8 and losing 8 games
In 2011, RCB reached the final winning 10 and losing 6.
In 2012, RCB could not reach the knockout on lesser NRR.
Team Comparison
RCB is not on the top without fancied performance. Their players have grabbed the Orange Cap as well as the Purple Cap. Virat Kohli is a clear leader and his main competitor Gayle is following closely while AB de Villiers is scoring whenever these two give him the chance to bat. Overall the deadly trio is whacking almost all the teams. In bowling Vinay Kumar is getting good support from RP Singh and Unadkat, although remaining two bowlers are still a problem for them.
RCB Team Statistics in 2013 IPL
While RCB captain is leading the run board, Warriors are still not sure about their captain. They already have three captains in 7 matches. Mathews the permanent captain has to sit out due to poor form. Ross Taylor was the captain for one match in Chennai where Mathews, being Sri Lankan, was barred from visiting. But his continuous poor form has made him sit on bench too. Due to his two half-centuries Finch was made the third captain and he celebrated it by scoring third half-century, the first by any IPL captain in their first match.
Overall the changes have helped. Luke Wright and Steven Smith have grabbed the chances by both hands. There is scope for one more foreigner to settle in.
In bowling Warriors have two good bowlers in B Kumar and Rahul Sharma, but otherwise the bowling is not clicking and even batting except the performances of Finch and cameo of Luke Wright has nothing to showcase. Overall very weak performances so far.
Pune Warriors Team Statistics in 2013 IPL
Verdict
Warriors have two good bowlers, RCB has three. Mendis can be the third good bowler for Warriors, but was not that promising in his first match. Yet, on a batting track that saw 186 runs chased and only 7 wickets fall from both sides, it would be wrong to judge him. So, he should get more chances.
Finch is the only successful batsman of PWI while RCB has the deadly trio. Gayle has demolished them in both their matches in 2012, while Kohli did the honours in 2011 of defeating Warriors. Warriors have a good squad to select a good team, but captaincy is a major issue. Yuvraj also looks in good form with bat as well as bat. He could be the X-factor if they have to win against RCB. Otherwise at Bangalore the verdict goes clearly in favor of RCB for them to reach the top on Points Table.
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