Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis. (Photo Source: BCCI/IPL)
Royal Challengers Bangalore will take on Gujarat Titans in the last match of the league stage of IPL 2023 on Sunday, May 21 at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. It’s an extremely important affair for RCB to seal their spot in the playoffs. The Faf du Plessis-led side need to win their last game and finish on 16 points to guarantee their spot in the playoffs or else they will have to depend on Mumbai Indians’ match result.
Ahead of their fixture against GT, former India cricketer, Aakash Chopra feels that RCB will face their toughest challenge of the tournament against the famed bowling attack of GT. RCB’s batting trio of Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, and Glenn Maxwell popularly known as ‘KGF’ will be up against Mohammed Shami, Rashid Khan, and Noor Ahmad.
“It will be an interesting one how KGF play against their bowling. The expectation is that the pitch will be extremely flat, but KGF’s real test will be against this bowling unit, which will have Mohammad Shami, Mohit Sharma, Noor Ahmad, Rashid Khan, and Hardik Pandya might be seen bowling,” said Chopra on his Youtube channel.
RCB face tough competition from MI in the playoffs race as they also have a chance of finishing with 16 points by beating Sunrisers Hyderabad in the first match of the day. The Rohit Sharma-led side can even take over RCB’s positive net run rate if they manage to beat SRH by a huge margin.
Speaking further on his Youtube channel, Chopra said that if Mumbai win against SRH then the pressure will be on RCB as they would need a win against the number 1 team in the tournament to qualify.
“If Mumbai win, the pressure will be on Bangalore because they will have to necessarily win the match. Bangalore have the No. 1 team of the tournament in front of them, that’s Gujarat,” Chopra added.
RCB vs GT game under rain threat
Meanwhile, there are dark clouds hovering over the RCB vs GT game as there’s a possibility of rain during the match If the game gets washed out, RCB will end up with 15 points which would result in MI’s qualification provided they beat SRH in the first game of the day.
The other team that’s also in contention is Rajasthan Royals who need both MI and RCB to lose their respective last games to qualify. RR further need RCB to lose by a good enough margin so that their net run rate drops below them (RR’s), resulting in their qualification.