Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) faces a potential banana-skin in its playoff aspirations as it visits Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) here on Thursday. The Lucknow side’s tournament now hangs by a thread after six defeats in a row, but assistant coach Lance Klusener said it has a lot to play for still.

It has struggled as a batting group this year, with captain Rishabh Pant emblematic of an inconsistent season for the batters, which can partly be attributed to home conditions.

No other venue has afforded bowlers as much assistance as the “fantastic” Ekana wicket, especially with the new ball, setting the stage for a clash with RCB’s red-hot pair of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood.

LSG’s best chance of success will likely come through its own impressive pace battery – including Mohammad Shami, Mohsin Khan, and Prince Yadav – despite a tough outing against Mumbai Indians.

It will look to expose an RCB middle-order that has wobbled at times, as typified by a collapse in its last outing against Gujarat Titans, and will be frustrated by its lack of consistent victories despite being second.

Spin-bowling coach Malolan Rangarajan said the team was firmly focussed on this match and that it was “not going to go far beyond that and not back either.”

Jitesh Sharma, who starred last year with an unbeaten 85 from 33 balls, is particularly under the scanner having looked short of rhythm for his 63 runs in seven outings at 112.50. Malolan threw his weight behind Jitesh, saying the team preferred to “look at the bigger picture.”

RCB has dominated this fixture recently, winning three out of the last four meetings, underlining the scale of the challenge facing the home side if it is to keep its wafer-thin hopes of a playoff spot alive.