It's do or die for Royal Challengers Bangalore as the much-vaunted side stare at elimination if they cannot pull off a win against the formidable Chennai super Kings in their IPL 2013 game at the Chinnaswamy Stadium Saturday.
RCB have dropped to fifth in the points table, having lost three of their last four games, including a shock defeat to Kings XI Punjab at home, which ended their unbeaten record in Bangalore in IPL 2013.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad currently hold the fourth position with 18 points from 15 games, two more than RCB.
The Virat Kohli-led side can move above the Sunrisers with a win on Saturday against CSK, but their future will still remain out of their hands, with the Hyderabad franchise able to finish in the top four with a win in their last game against Kolkata Knight Riders, regardless of RCB's result in the final game. RCB will also be knocked out of the tournament if they fail to beat CSK.
RCB pacer R Vinay Kumar said the side are not too worried about the must-win situation that they face at the moment, saying all that does is put undue pressure on the team to perform.
"The pressure is there from game one," he said. "The IPL is such tournament that if you want to win the title, you have to take every game as a crucial game. If we keep thinking about this game as a must-win game, we will only make things tough for ourselves mentally."
RCB's strength is without doubt their batting - or to put it more clearly their three batsmen - Chris Gayle, Kohli and AB De Villiers.
If the three batsmen fail to fire, then RCB invariably lose; so it will be of paramount importance for the trio to put in a really good shift against CSK, who are likely to rest a few players with their status in the top two assured.
"When a team is desperate to win, they generally give their best game out and we expect RCB to do the same against us on Saturday," CSK coach Stephen Fleming said.
The New Zealander also admitted CSK have made specific plans to stop Gaylestorm from running away with the game on Saturday.
"There's huge amount of planning done on Chris Gayle and we're no different," he added. "We're lucky enough to implement our plans and get Chris out early on a number of occasions.
"The worrying thing might be that he must be due (for a big score against us). So, we must ensure we hit the right areas all over again and hopefully it's our day.
"He's been remarkably consistent for such a dynamic player. His consistency on this ground is particularly brilliant. So, we know we have our work cut out.
"There are two-three bowlers we are looking to use. (R) Ashwin's had success against Chris. Chris Morris had a successful outing against him in the last game we played against them.
"However, the key plans may not always come off and the other bowlers have to be just as good as the bowlers who we originally plan to use against him."
To watch RCB vs CSK Live Streaming for U.S. viewers, click here.
