Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the toss and opted to bowl first against Punjab Kings in their first home game at Chinnaswamy Stadium. The bowling department seems to have all bases covered - Arshdeep, Rabada, Curran and Chahar form the core while the likes of Harpreet Brar and Harshal Patel bring variety. There was a bold move to send Curran at number four in their opening game and it paid off as the all rounder scored 63 to help chase down 177. Having Curran bat at four gives them a left-hander in the middle, he can play at different tempos and allows the likes of Jitesh Sharma and Livingstone.
RCB failed to get a winning start in their IPL 2024 campaign against defending champions Chennai Super Kings last week. But while it may be dismissed as just one match, the chinks in their armoury, which was feared even before the start of the season, have been exposed. It was their bowling attack entirely that looked brittle against Chennai in that loss in Chepauk. These two sides got off to contrasting starts to this season. RCB lost to CSK by six wickets in the match that opened the tournament on March 22. The next day, Punjab Kings beat Delhi Capitals by four wickets. The problem for RCB is that they lost four of the five night games they played at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in IPL 2023. This is the first of three home matches that RCB will be playing on the trot. RCB then face KKR on Friday and then LSG on April 2 before travelling to Jaipur to face RR on April 6.
