It will be a battle of survival for the two national captains as Virat Kohli's struggling Royal Challengers Bangalore square off against a fledgling Pune Supergiants led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni in an IPl encounter for the bottom-rung teams, here on Saturday.
With five defeats in seven games, RCB are currently placed at a lowly seventh spot in the table with four points while Pune are just a notch above in sixth spot courtesy their third win against Delhi Daredevils, on Thursday.
It has been a tough journey for the two superstars of Indian cricket as their franchises have dished one disappointing performance after another.
Skipper Kohli, who is in form of his life, is leading the run-getters list with 433 runs to his credit with a century and four 50 plus scores at a whopping average of 72.16. AB de Villiers with 320 runs is also in the Top-10 list but the problem has been their bowling.
It is expected that England seamer Chris Jordan, who put up some exceptionally good performances at the death during the last ICC World T20 will be coming into the playing XI giving Kohli, the respite he needs at the opening.
For Dhoni and his men, they will like to think that the win against Daredevils will boost their morale after four defeats at their home ground in Pune.
Spate of injuries leading to return of Faf du Plessis, Kevin Pietersen, Steven Smith and Mitchell Marsh has hampered Dhoni's plans but he will get some relief with the joining of Usman Khawaja, who made 30 in his IPl debut. Khawaja and George Bailey can add the filip that RPS desperately needs.
Although Dhoni did not finish the match, his two sixes did go a long way in helping Thisara Perera finish off the match. With the team needing to win each and every match, MSD and his boys know very well that they cannot afford any slip ups at this stage of tournament.