Royal Challengers Bengaluru will certainly wish to get a step closer to the playoffs if they beat bottom-placed Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana International Stadium on Thursday.

On 12 points now, a win on Thursday would cement the defending champions' place in the top two of the standings, further brightening their chances of making the playoffs. For the Super Giants, they are out of the playoffs race if they lose against RCB.

The current situation Rishabh Pant and Co. are in, they need to win all their remaining five games if they are to stay alive in the competition.

The conditions in Lucknow, however, make matters even a bit for both teams, especially with the big outfield and the pitch not a high-scoring one. Barring Virat Kohli, who can adjust his game to the conditions, the task may not be too easy for the other strokemakers of RCB.

That said, the job could get doubly difficult for the Super Giants' extremely inconsistent batting group when they face RCB's new-ball pace duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood. Alongside the purchase they could get from the Lucknow pitch, Bhuvneshwar will be even deadlier if there's swing in the air. So too will be Hazlewood.

Even if the two quicks don't have much of a success, RCB still have plenty in their arsenal, while the inconsistency of Lucknow's key batters also give the reigning champions an edge.