Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kings XI Punjab, Indian Premier League 2020 Match 31: In Pics

Virat Kohli-led Royal Challenges Bangalore won the toss and opted to bat first against KL Rahul's Kings XI Punjab in Match 31 of the ongoing 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday.

 

RCB are currently occupying the third spot with five wins from seven matches, while KXIP are placed at the bottom of the IPL 2020 points table with just a victory in hand.

 

Bangalore come into the clash after clinching back-to-back five victories.Kings XI, on the other hand, are keen to end their losing streak and move up in the points table with a victory against RCB.

Kings XI Punjab have made three changes in their Playing XI for their IPL 2020 clash against RCB. Chris Gayle is all set to play his first match for the Punjab franchise in the ongoing season of the lucrative T20 tournament after recovering from food poisoning. He has replaced Mujeeb Ur Rahman in Kings XI's Playing XI.

 

Meanwhile, M Ashwin and Deepak Hooda have also come in place of Mandeep Singh (injury) and Prabhsimran Singh. 

 

Interestingly, KXIP's only victory in the ongoing season came against the Virat Kohli-led side when they sealed a crushing 97-run triumph at the Dubai International Stadium on September 24. (Image Courtesy:Twitter/lionsdenkxip)

RCB skipper Virat Kohli has opted for an unchanged Playing XI for his side's second tie against KXIP of the IPL 2020. 

Aaron Finch, Chris Morris, AB de Villiers and Isuru Udana are the four overseas players in Bangalore's Playing XI. (Image Courtesy: Twitter/@RCBTweets)

The players of the Kings XI Punjab celebrate after removing RCB opener Devdutt Padikkal for 18. Padikkal fell for 12-ball 18 after being caught by Nicholas Pooran at cover on the first delivery of the fifth over from Arshdeep Singh. (Image Courtesy: Twitter/@IPL)

After losing opener Devdutt Padikkal (18) and Aaron Finch (20), skipper Virat Kohli and Washington Sundar took RCB to a score of 83 for two at the halway mark. (Image Courtesy: Twitter/@IPL)

Washington Sundar looked for the slog sweep on the third ball of the 11th over from Murugan Ashwin, but ended up handing a simple catch to Chris Jordan at long-on to depart for 13 runs. (Image Courtesy: Twitter/@IPL)

KXIP pacer Mohammed Shami celebrates after taking two big wickets in an over. AB de Villiers, who came to bat at No.6 fo RCB, departed cheaply for two runs after being caught by Deepak Hooda at extra cover on the third delivery of the 18th over from Shami. Meanwhile, Virat Kohli (48) fell short of a half-century after being caught by his KXIP counterpart KL Rahul behind the wicket on the fifth ball of the same over.(Image Courtesy: Twitter/@IPL)

Chris Morris (25) caressed the fourth ball of the 19th over from Chris Jordan over the point boundary for a six before he hammered Mohammed Shami for four runs and back-to-back sixes in the next over to help RCB set a decent target of 172 runs for KXIP.

KXIP opener Mayank Agarwal (45) fell short of a half-century after being clean bowled by Yuzvendra Chahal on the last delivery of the eighth over. (Image Courtesy: Twitter/@IPL)

Skipper KL Rahul brought up a half-century off 37 deliveries. He reached the mark with a single by pushing the fifth ball of the 14th over from Chris Morris into the leg side.It was his 20th in IPL and fourth of the ongoing season.(Image Courtesy: Twitter/@IPL)

Chris Gayle, who was playing his first match of the season after recovering from food poisoning, also notched up a fifty off 36 balls. He reached the mark with a single by punching the last ball of the 17th over from Washington Sundar to long-off. (Image Courtesy: Twitter/@IPL)

Skipper KL Rahul and swashbuckling batsman Chris Gayle smashed a half-century each to help Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) register their second win of the ongoing 2020 IPL with a thrilling eight-wicket victory over the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Sharjah.