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Punjab Kings vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru Betting Preview, Odds & Predictions

Simon Lewis

Editor

Last updated: 16 May 2026

Simon Lewis 16 May 2026

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Punjab Kings’ season has fallen apart with five losses in a row.
Royal Challengers have been the most consistent side and deserve their top spot.
Explore betting opportunities in handicaps, batters to Score Over/Under Runs, bowlers to Take Over/Under Wickets markets and Match Sixes.

Expired

Virat Kohli is back to his best form (Getty Images).

This Punjab Kings vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru prediction preview looks ahead to the IPL group match played in India. The Kings have slipped from being the team of the tournament to being in serious danger of missing the playoffs.

Match Details
Recent Form
Head-to-Head Record
Team News
Key Stats
Match Analysis
Betting Markets to Watch
Latest Odds

The Royal Challengers have proven themselves one of the toughest teams to beat in the tournament and are looking strong to defend their title.

Match Details

Match	Punjab Kings vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Competition	Indian Premier League
Date	17 May 2026
Time	16:00 SAST
Venue	Dharamsala, India

Recent Form

Team	Last 5 Matches
Punjab Kings	LLLLL
Royal Challengers Bengaluru	WLLWW

The Challengers have won four of their last six matches and are the form team of the tournament, while the Kings went from looking unbeatable to struggling to find a win.

Head-to-Head Record

Season	Winner	Margin of victory	Competition
2025	Challengers Bengaluru	6 runs	IPL
2025	Challengers Bengaluru	8 wickets	IPL
2025	Challengers Bengaluru	7 wickets	IPL
2025	Punjab Kings Royal	5 wickets	IPL
2024	Challengers Bengaluru	60 runs	IPL

The two sides met four times last season between their group matches, the playoffs and the final, but the Royal Challengers have proven themselves the better side at finishing off games as they look for a fourth win in a row in just over a year.

Team News

Punjab Kings: The Kings have put together some impressive scores, but their bowlers haven’t been able to run through the opposition top order on a consistent basis. They are averaging under five wickets per innings and are all going for over eight runs to the over.

Possible XI: Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer (c), Suryansh Shedge, Azmatullah Omarzai, Shashank Singh, Marco Jansen, Ben Dwarshuis, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Star batter Virat Kohli bounced back from consecutive ducks to score an undefeated century in the win over the Knight Riders, and with their bowlers also performing they should be hard to beat.

Possible XI: Jacob Bethell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar (c), Jitesh Sharma, Tim David, Venkatesh Iyer, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rasikh Salam Dar, Jacob Duffy, Josh Hazlewood.

Key Stats

Punjab Kings’ Cooper Connolly has scored 30, 107*, 38 & 21 in 5 knocks.
Punjab Kings’ Azmatullah Omarzai has taken 3/41, 4/15 & 2/36 in 4 matches.
Punjab Kings’ Arshdeep Singh has taken 2/24, 1/43 & 2/21 in 4 matches.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Virat Kohli is 3rd in the IPL runs list with 484 runs.
Royal Challengers' Devdutt Padikkal has scored 34*, 40, 34 & 39 in 5 knocks.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar is 1st in the IPL wickets list, taking 22 wickets at a strike rate of 12.8.

Match Analysis

The Royal Challengers are in superb form and are masters of the chase, with six of their eight wins coming batting second. The Kings will be keen to put them in first but at the same time they will be wary of chasing against the Royal Challengers’ strong bowling attack.

The last match at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala saw the Kings post a score of 200/8 off their 20 overs. They hit a total of 12 sixes but only Prabhsimran Singh (57 off 32 balls) scored more than 38.

Mumbai hit their target with a six off the second-last ball of the match, with 16 sixes raining into the crowd. Azmatullah Omarzai picked up 2/36 but once again they failed to make inroads into the opposition top order, taking just four wickets.

The pitch at Dharamsala offers a beautiful backdrop to the match and favours the side batting second. With the match being played in the afternoon dew won’t be a factor for the side bowling second.

Betting Markets to Watch

Result

The Royal Challengers are top of the table and winning consistently, so there looks little hope for a Kings side that has lost five on the bounce.

Best Royal Challengers Bowler

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has taken 3/50, 3/28, 4/23 and 1/34 in his last five matches and is worth backing to be the Challengers’ best bowler.

Score Over/Under Runs

Virat Kohli has scored 81, 23*, 28 and 105* in his last six knocks and looks a good candidate to score 37 runs or more in the match.

Take Over/Under Wickets

Marco Jansen has taken just two wickets in his last six matches and six in 11, so he’s a top candidate to take less than two wickets in the match.

Latest Odds

Market	Odds
Punjab Kings Win	2.15
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Win	1.62
Match to go to a Super Over	29.00

Odds with Easybets.co.za

Verdict

Punjab Kings v Royal Challengers Bengaluru

The Royal Challengers are our pick to win the match, with Virat Kohli backed to score more than 36 runs.

Marco Jansen is backed to take one wicket or less, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar is our pick to be the Royal Challengers’ best bowler.

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Simon is a talented sports writer in South Africa with a strong focus on cricket having played first-team level for UCT, including playing at two Universities Weeks.

From a young age Simon was an avid reader of cricket magazines and books, and went on to be Editor of The Googly, CricketScene SA and SA Cricket, in addition to being a Features Writer on SA Sports Illustrated.

He has interviewed most of South Africa's premier cricketers and was the first writer to interview a teenaged Jacques Kallis.

Simon has also written about English and local football, rugby and cricket, in addition to major international tennis and golf stars and competitions.

You can follow more from Simon at Muckrack, X and LinkedIn.