IPL-2025: Royal Challengers Bengaluru to face Gujarat Titans at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru

RCB’s return to Chinnaswamy poses a familiar challenge – can they shake off their home-ground woes? Despite a strong start to IPL 2025 with two away wins, their struggles at home remain a concern. With a sub-50% win record in Bengaluru, they’ve looked to address this through smart auction buys, particularly in the bowling department

“I think everybody knows what to expect from a surface here in Bangalore. It’s a good wicket, we know it’s a pretty short boundary, we know the ball carries and flies, so they’re typically high scoring games… We’ve recruited a team that we think is pretty powerful, we hope we can exploit those batting conditions. And we think we’ve got a bowling attack that’s particularly skilful and that can deal with the challenge of bowling here. Attacking here, but also defending here,” explained Mo Bobat, the RCB team director.

Having won two games away, RCB are at the top of the points table but as the numbers suggest, they could be in for a ticky challenge on their homecoming where they’d be waiting to see if their judgement pre-season bears fruit.

What would ease their nerves is the good form shown by almost all their players over the two games, additionally showcasing a role clarity that is working towards making them a stronger collective. Phil Salt’s firepower in the powerplay along with spin-hitters in the middle and a powerful finisher in Tim David, RCB’s batting line-up has clicked well so far, as has their bowling unit which will have their task cut out against an in-form Gujarat Titans top order.

The visiting team has been heavily dependent on their top three so far but, like RCB, have most fronts covered, on paper at least. A well-rounded bowling unit adds to their strengths although they’d be waiting for more of their players to hit form and play to potential.

Squads:

Gujarat Titans Squad: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Jos Buttler(w), Shahrukh Khan, Sherfane Rutherford, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Ishant Sharma, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Anuj Rawat, Mahipal Lomror, Arshad Khan, Jayant Yadav, Nishant Sindhu, Kulwant Khejroliya, Gerald Coetzee, Manav Suthar, Kumar Kushagra, Gurnoor Brar, Karim Janat

Royal Challengers Bengaluru Squad: Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Dar Salam, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh, Abhinandan Singh, Romario Shepherd, Lungi Ngidi, Nuwan Thushara, Mohit Rathee, Swastik Chikara