IPL 5: RCB face charged Pune at home

Royal Challengers Bangalore are looking for a few wins to get their campaign on track in IPL 5 and on Tuesday Pune Warriors India give them a chance to set things in order.
In their last match, Bangalore lost to Rajasthan Royals by 59 runs at home and presently lie in the bottom-half of the points table just ahead of Deccan Chargers. The Daniel Vettori-lead team heavily depends on the services of Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, which indicates a weak middle order. So far there has not been any significant contribution from the likes of Saurabh Tiwary, Cheteshwar Pujara and the recent inclusion of Mohammad Kaif did not reap any results.


But in the bowling department the Bangalore team looks quite well off apart from the bad day they had at the office in the Rajasthan match on Sunday, where Ajinkya Rahane and Owais Shah took the attack to them. Bangalore have the reputation of being slow starters and presently need a few wins under their belt to trigger their momentum.
On the other hand, under Sourav Ganguly's captaincy Pune have looked a changed team compared to IPL 4. The franchise doesn't boast any big names in the line-up, but at the moment are charged up and playing as a unit. In four matches, they have won three and are second in the points table behind Rajasthan. As of now it's hard to predict which team will go the distance given the long schedule of the tournament, but surely the complexion of standings in the later stage is going to change.
The win over defending champions Chennai Super Kings in their last match would give them confidence when Pune clash with Bangalore at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Jesse Ryder bouncing back to form and the return of Angelo Mathews are positives for Pune. The bowling has the spring and bite in the form of Ashok Dinda, Ashish Nehra and Murali Kartik, but the Pune skipper also needs to bowl Steven Smith more often.
Somehow, the spark in Robin Uthappa is missing this season and his team would like him to fire at the earliest. Therefore, this match holds importance for both the teams, as a win can spur Bangalore back to winning ways and help Pune to keep up their momentum.
Probable XIs
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 Chris Gayle, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 AB de Villiers (wk), 5 Saurabh Tiwary, 6 Mohammad Kaif, 7 Daniel Vettori (capt), 8 Abhimanyu Mithun/Sreenath Aravind, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Vinay Kumar, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan
Pune Warriors India: 1 Jesse Ryder, 2 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 3 Marlon Samuels, 4 Robin Uthappa (wk), 5 Angelo Mathews, 6 Mithun Manhas, 7 Steven Smith, 8 Murali Kartik, 9 Rahul Sharma, 10 Ashish Nehra, 11 Ashok Dinda