Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) play their first home match of IPL 2025 against Gujarat Titans on Wednesday.

Having won both their matches so far convincingly, the focus will be on RCB’s experienced bowling unit to maintain their momentum to make for a memorable homecoming.

The Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch has traditionally favored batters, with short boundaries, and they had struggled to come to terms with it last season. But the story could be different this time around.

RCB’s bowling has been intimidating with Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in prime form. Hazlewood has been economical, conceding just 5.37 runs per over, while Bhuvneshwar has an economy rate of 6.6.

The economical spells by their new ball bowlers will be RCB’s biggest asset against the Titans’ capable top-order.

Captain Shubman Gill and B. Sai Sudharsan have already developed into a good opening pair, and RCB will be eager to prevent their alliance from blossoming against Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar.

The Aussie can hit the hard lengths to find disconcerting bounce and Bhuvneshwar can operate in a tight line while troubling the batters with his ability to swing the new ball.

This versatility makes the RCB pace pair a massive threat in these conditions.

Yash Dayal, the left-arm pacer, too has grown into a dependable and crafty supp-ort bowler.

Their spin department, however, appears a bit underwhelming with Krunal Pandya and Suyansh Sharma struggling a bit.

On the other hand, the Titans have two proven campaigners in Rashid Khan and R. Sai Kishore.

Their battle with RCB batters such as Virat Kohli, Phil Salt and skipper Rajat Patidar could decide the contest.