Gujarat Lions tasked with halting Kohli juggernaut in road to final

Given Virat Kohli's devastating form, and his penchant for scoring centuries at will in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), Gujarat Lions will hope the expression 'third time's the charm' works for them. Two out of his record-setting four centuries in the season have come at the expense of the IPL debutants, and Suresh Raina will hope his side can do enough to deny him a hat-trick. Unfortunately for the Lions, however, AB de Villiers too has a century against them. The last time these two teams met at the M Chinnaswamy stadium, Kohli and de Villers put on a morale-crushing stand of 229 runs, scoring a century each.

The prospect of returning to what has felt like a strip conceived in the imaginary batting wonderland, with a spot in the final at stake, will seem as daunting a task as ever for Raina & Co. The debutants have enjoyed a see-saw season, which saw them become the first team to win six out of their opening seven fixtures. A mid-season hiccup lasted for three games before they sprinted towards the end and claimed top spot.

Kohli's determination, willingness and his pure delight in the face of a challenge has mirrored Royal Challengers Bangalore's climb to the top four. In a season where Royal Challengers faced familiar woes of being top-heavy - with an ensemble of superstar batsmen and a bowling unit reflecting a shoe-string budget - they've managed to find enough fire-power to make a dash towards the business end. Their effort of pushing themselves to the brink and squeezing in four wins in four has been rewarding, as they finished in the top-two and earned an extra shot at the final. Playing in home conditions, however, Kohli & Co. should back themselves to seal a final spot on Tuesday, get some rest and then go hard in their pursuit of a maiden title, again in familiar surroundings of the Chinnaswamy stadium.

Despite being tormented by Kohli and de Villiers last time around, Lions' best bet would be to ask the hosts to bat first, restrict them under 200 and apply the pressure on a brittle bowling attack. The likes of Sreenath Aravind and Yuzvendra Chahal have grown in stature and form as the season has progressed but with an explosive batting reservoir at their disposal, Lions can take the punt of letting Kohli have the first crack.

When: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Gujarat Lions, May 24, 2016, Qualifier 1, 8PM ISTWhere: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, BangaloreWhat to expect: Partly cloudy sky with a shower or thunderstorm expected in parts of the city in the evening. If the match is washed out, the first option will be to play an over-eliminator to decide the winner. If that is also not possible, the team that has finished ahead in the league stage (Gujarat Lions in this case) will go through to the final.

Team News

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Having played their previous fixture on Saturday (May 22), the team opted for an optional practice on the eve of the fixture. With the game being played in Bangalore, Kohli is likely to bring back Varun Aaron in place of spinner Iqbal Abdulla.

Gujarat Lions: In their previous outing in Bangalore, the table-toppers employed a spin troika (Shivil Kaushik, Praveen Tambe and Ravindra Jadeja) who conceded an aggregate of 109 runs in nine overs. In the last game Lions played - against Mumbai Indians in Kanpur - only two spinners, Jadeja and Shadab Jakati, operated. Given Dwayne Smith's resourcefulness in the previous two games, Raina could be tempted to bring back Pradeep Sangwan in place of Jakati and have five seamers in Praveen Kumar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Dwayne Bravo, Smith and Sangwan while Jadeja operates as the lone spinner.

Who said what:

Virat Kohli: We were at No. 7 position in the table, an impossible situation, and now we have two chances at the final, having finished at No. 2. I tried to make the most of my batting form and take the team through. Our focus has paid off.

Did you know:

- Virat Kohli has scored 209 runs in the two games against Gujarat Lions in this IPL - the only instance of a player scoring 200-plus runs against a single team in the same season.

- AB de Villiers's 18 catches this season is most among fielders in a season in IPL. Dwayne Bravo and David Miller had taken 14 catches each in 2012 and 2013 respectively.

- Gujarat Lions have the top four powerplay scores in this IPL. 72 for 1 vs Rising Pune Supergiants, 72 for 1 vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, 71 for 0 vs Dehli Daredevils and 70 for 1 vs Mumbai Indians. No other team has scored more than 66 in the powerplay overs.

Squads:

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Abu Nechim, Samuel Badree, Yuzvendra Chahal, Praveen Dubey, Travis Head, Kedar Jadhav, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Lokesh Rahul, Sachin Baby, Vikas Tokas, David Wiese, Varun Aaron, Sreenath Aravind, Stuart Binny, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Iqbal Abdulla, Akshay Karnewar, Vikramjeet Malik, Adam Milne, Harshal Patel, Kane Richardson, Shane Watson

Gujarat Lions: Suresh Raina, Akshdeep Nath, Dwayne Bravo, Eklavya Dwivedi, Aaron Finch, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Dhawal Kulkarni, Brendon McCullum, Jaydev Shah, Dwayne Smith, Pravin Tambe, Sarabjit Ladda, Amit Mishra, Paras Dogra, James Faulkner, Ishan Kishan, Shadab Jakati, Shivil Kaushik, Praveen Kumar, Pradeep Sangwan, Dale Steyn, Andrew Tye