It will be a Herculean task for Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore, sixth in the points table with six points from nine games, when it takes on table-topper Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Monday.
The Kane Williamson-led Sunrisers would be keen to take another significant step towards making it to the play-offs by posting a win in its second-last game at home in front of a sell-out crowd. The Kiwi has been an inspirational leader without being overtly aggressive.
The captains of the two teams have been lead performers. But, fortunately for Sunrisers, it has been a remarkable season as far as bowling is concerned and against Delhi Daredevils, the batting concerns too seem to have been addressed to some extent, what with flamboyant opener Alex Hales serving a reminder of his big-hitting prowess. The middle-order might just still be brittle against quality bowlers backed by solid fielding.
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Variety in attack
In bowling, Sunrisers has an abundance of riches other teams could be envious of. It has variety, depth and quality which can pose a serious challenge to any team even when defending below-par scores.
On the other hand, with the exception of Kohli, other RCB batsmen have been clearly inconsistent. For a team which is clearly struggling to click as a unit, a win here can bring a glimmer of hope or else it could be curtains.
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The pace trio of Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav and Mohd. Siraj, who made his IPL debut for Sunrisers last season and will be bowling in front of ‘home crowd’, and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal are capable of producing results but they badly need to be backed by some solid batting performances.
The teams (from):
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson (C ), Shikhar Dhawan, Manish Pandey, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Wriddhiman Saha, Siddharth Kaul, Deepak Hooda, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Shreevats Goswami, Ricky Bhui, Basil Thampi, T Natarajan, Sachin Baby, Bipul Sharma, Mehdi Hasan, Tanmay Agarwal, Alex Hales, Carlos Brathwaite, Rashid Khan, Shakib Al Hasan, Mohammad Nabi and Chris Jordan.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (Captain), Quinton de Kock, Brendon McCullum, AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Chris Woakes, Washington Sundar, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Colin de Grandhomme, Moeen Ali, Pawan Negi, Mohammed Siraj, Corey Anderson, Parthiv Patel, Tim Southee.