The Dubai International Cricket Stadium will host the sixth game of the Dream11 Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 when Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) take on Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Thursday.

RCB are coming into this game on the back of their 10-run win against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Virat Kohli and Co. will want to seal their second win in a row.

Contrastingly, KXIP came tantalisingly close to winning their opening game before Delhi Capitals kept their nerves to seal a victory in the Super Over. Rahul will be keen to register his maiden win as IPL captain against the franchise that he once played for.

RCB are on the back of a win, but they have many things to improve upon. Their opening bowlers Umesh Yadav and Dale Steyn went for many and only won courtesy of some brilliance from Chahal. The major positive for RCB was the emergence of Devdutt Padikkal at the top of the batting order, and his pairing with Aaron Finch seems to work well. Virat Kohli looked rusty and it was only because AB de Villiers power that they managed to reach a par-total..

Umesh Yadav was very expensive and might not get the swing that makes him so effective in the powerplay. RCB might have to change tack and find someone else to start out with. Washington Sundar might be the answer here. Navdeep Saini and Yuzvendra Chahal are world-class bowlers and showed it in the previous match. However, having to rely on Shivam Dube for almost three overs I not something that inspires too much confidence in this RCB bowling attack.

On the other hand, Punjab lost the game from the jaws of defeat after the match went into the super over for the first time in IPL 2020. They have themselves to blame for this loss and will rue the wrong one-shot call from the umpire. Mayank Agrawal played one of the best knocks so far in this IPL, while their death bowling let them down after a great start by Shami.

Big names like Lokesh Rahul, Glenn Maxwell, and Nicholas Pooran were not able to provide any sort of resistance to some decent bowling. Can they afford to leave Chris Gayle out for the side? We don't think they are going to start making major changes to their team after just one match but the pressure on the incumbents is going to be on. We could see Mujeeb-ur Rehman in the team for one of Cottrell or Jordan, though. Weather Forecast
The weather in Dubai will be sunny and extremely hot. The maximum temperature will be 41 degrees while the minimum will be 29 degrees. Dew will play an important role while there is no chance of rain.

Pitch Report
The pitch at Dubai International Stadium is expected to favour bowlers, if the last match between Delhi Capitals and Kings XI Punjab is anything to go by. Delhi's Kasigo Rabada and Punjab's Mohammed Shami got good support from the pitch. The groundsman has left a lot of grass on the surface but the true nature of these pitches cannot be hidden for long. Mwny deliveries keep low and the spinners have a big impact in Dubai already. The dew is a big factor as well and the side batting second has a definite advantage. It appears as if a score around 160 is par. Anything over 170-175 is going to be pretty tough to chase.

Toss Prediction
The team that wins the toss is going to want to field first. There is a lot of dew that comes by the time the second inning stats and makes batting a bit easier.

Stats and Facts
Head to head: Matches Played: 24
RCB Won: 12
KXIP won: 12

Approaching Milestones:
Rahul needs two runs to complete 2000 in the IPL. If he gets there in Thursday's game, he will have done so in his 60th innings, becoming the third-quickest to the mark behind Chris Gayle and Shaun Marsh.
Chris Gayle is 142 runs away from 1000 IPL runs for KXIP.
Virat Kohli needs 74 runs to complete 5500 IPL runs.
Dale Steyn needs 3 wickets to complete 100 wickets in the IPL.
AB de Villiers is 54 runs away from 4500 IPL runs.
Dale Steyn is three wickets away from 100 in the IPL.

Likely XIs:
Kings XI Punjab: KL Rahul (capt & wk), Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Sarfaraz Khan, K Gowtham, Chris Jordan, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Sheldon Cottrell.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli (capt), AB de Villiers, Josh Philippe (wk)/Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube/Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Washington Sundar, Dale Steyn, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal.
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Players to Watch Out For:
Kings XI Punjab: KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Shami
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Yuzvendra Chahal

Match Odds:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1.72
Kings XI Punjab: 2.10

SantaBanta's Winner Prediction: Kings XI Punjab

IPL 2020 Winner Live Odds
Mumbai Indians - 4.5
Royal Challengers Bangalore - 5.5
Chennai Super Kings - 6
Delhi Capitals - 6.5
Sunrisers Hyderabad - 8
Kolkata Knight Riders - 8.5
Kings XI Punjab - 9
Rajasthan Royals - 13

Match Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai, UAE
Time: 7.30 PM IST
TV: Star Sports Network
Live Streaming: Disney+ Hotstar VIP