In the 60th match of IPL 2022, Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and opted to bowl first against Punjab Kings at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Friday.

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With two games remaining in the league phase, RCB would look to sprint away from the mid-table muddle and qualify for the playoffs. A win against Punjab Kings would help them inch closer to their immediate goal of qualifying for the next phase of the tournament. RCB would go into the game on the back of morale-boosting wins against southern neighbours – Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

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What did the captains say? 

Faf du Plessis: We’ll have a bowl. The trends in the competition suggests that the wickets are getting better, toss isn’t making much of a difference. One side is a bit short, so that’s a factor. Same team. We played some good all-round cricket in the last few games, hopefully everyone can play their role perfectly today as well. Looks a good wicket, just unsure how it will play early on, so just want to have a bowl.

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Mayank Agarwal: Not a bad toss to lose. Want to put runs on the board and put pressure on them. Obviously, runs on the board is a factor. Harpreet Brar comes in for Sandeep Sharma. Left-arm spinner against them is a good matchup, so that’s why we have made the change. We have been playing good cricket but it’s been a bit on and off. Need to do that as a team (for longer periods).

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Pitch report: The dimension of the ground are mostly the same all-around although. The average score batting first here has been 177 but a winning total has been in the 190s. Batters love the pitch because it is hard, nice covering of grass and there will be some swing upfront due to the extreme humidity these days. Bowlers will hope to get swing.

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Teams

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis(c), Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Dinesh Karthik(w), Mahipal Lomror, Shahbaz Ahmed, Wanindu Hasaranga, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Josh Hazlewood

Punjab Kings: Jonny Bairstow, Shikhar Dhawan, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Mayank Agarwal(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Liam Livingstone, Rishi Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh