Bangalore Royal Challengers face the Rajasthan Royals in the first game on Thursday.

Currently, Bangalore is at eight points from as many games, while the Rajasthan Royals are at the second position with nine points.
 
Bangalore’s campaign had not begun too well when they managed to win only one game out of the first five they played and looked in danger of bowing out of the tournament like in the previous edition. However, the Royal Challengers (10/1 at Paddy Power to win tournament) have won three successive games after that to be back on track as contenders for the title. Rajasthan (13/2 at Stan James to win the IPL) had a similar story, and looked to be crashing out of the IPL before a couple of wins has put them on the title trail as well.
 
At this stage, there is very little to choose from between the two teams; Sky Bet offer 11/10 for Bangalore to win it, where as Stan James offer 4/5 for Rajasthan to beat the Royal Challengers.
 
Rajasthan’s batting has earned a lot of flak for its over-reliance on a couple of batsmen – Yusuf Pathan (5/1 at Stan James to be top Rajasthan batsman) and the previously out-of-form Graeme Smith (3/1 at Ladbrokes to be top Rajasthan batsman) – but the top order did get back on track in their last game against the Kings XI Punjab by becoming the first team in the competition to surpass 200. Naman Ojha (5/1 at Boylesports to be top Rajasthan batsman) batted well in his inning, and should have cemented his spot at the top for this game as well.
 
Bangalore, on the other hand, have tried quite a few things in their order, and finally seemed to have got a combination right after the departure of Kevin Pietersen. Dillion du Preez bowled out of his skin on debut, while the duo of Jacques Kallis (4/1 at Ladbrokes to be top Bangalore scorer) and Robin Uthappa (9/2 at Stan James) finally got going with the bat with a couple of half centuries. Kallis versus Warne’s team should be a big battle given their history, while Uthappa’s return to form needs to continue in the same vein. Down the order, Mark Boucher (10/1 at Stan James to be top scorer) is the one who began this resurrection for Bangalore is as dangerous as any other wicket-keeper-batsman to smash a few. Rahul Dravid (5/1 at Sky Bet to be top Bangalore scorer) is back from India and he could play a stellar role in guiding the ship if the Challengers do lose a couple of early wickets.
 
One isn’t sure about Dale Steyn’s fitness yet, but Ray Jennings will not want to unsettle the team by making any unnecessary changes and so Steyn could miss out again. Reolf van der Merwe (4/1 at Stan James to be most economic) will need to play the part of a strike bowler once the ball gets old, but the Rajasthan Royals will do well to remember that his bowling was adversely affected by the dew on the ground in the previous encounter. For Rajasthan, Shane Warne (4/1 at Stan James to be most economic) needs to get his bowling act together as the batsmen are finding it easy to pick him off. Amit Singh did have a good first outing, but he seems to be young and a trifle raw to stand out as the most economic bowler amongst the lot two matches in a row.
 
Tip:
Favourite: Rajasthan Royals (13/2 at Stan James)
Top Rajasthan batsman: Graeme Smith (3/1 at Ladbrokes)
Top Bangalore batsman: Rahul Dravid (5/1 at Sky Bet)
Most economic bowler: Anil Kumble (9/2 at Stan James)