IPL-17: RCB vs SRH | Headaches a plenty for Royal Challengers as it hosts Sunrisers Hyderabad

The Royal Challengers have players of repute and elite coaches with lofty pedigree but none of their plans have worked so far, evidenced by the team’s 10th place in the standings

Royal Challengers Bengaluru players celebrate a wicket during an IPL match. Their bowlers will be under as the team faces Sunrisers Hyderabad in Bengaluru on April 15. | Photo Credit: Emmanual Yogini

Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Faf du Plessis has nowhere to turn. His bowlers concede runs aplenty, and his batters have failed to get going.

When RCB takes on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on April 15, only an exceptional individual performance can save the home team from a fifth straight loss.

RCB’s primary concern is the bowling unit, which in the opinion of du Plessis, lacks potent weapons. It is down to the batters to get a massive total and keep the side in the hunt, du Plessis said after a crushing loss against Mumbai Indians.

If only it was that simple. The RCB batters share as much blame as the bowlers, as Virat Kohli & Co. have failed to get the team to the 200-run mark so far this season.

Kohli has been scoring runs by the heap, but this has not helped the team cause. Dinesh Karthik has provided some cheer with his late hits, and RCB may be tempted to promote the 38-year-old up the order.

RCB will find it hard to contain the explosive SRH batters. South African Heinrich Klaasen and opener Abhishek Sharma, second and third respectively on the list of players with the most number of sixes for the tournament, illustrate SRH’s aggressive intent.

SRH will be encouraged by the confidence shown by uncapped Nitish Kumar Reddy, who smashed a 37-ball 64 against Punjab Kings to give the unit a second straight win.

Teams (from):

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Faf du Plessis (c), Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Swapnil Singh, Saurav Chauhan.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins (c), Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen, Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Sanvir Singh, Heinrich Klaasen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Agarwal, T. Natarajan, Anmolpreet Singh, Mayank Markande, Upendra Singh Yadav, Umran Malik, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Shahbaz Ahmed, Travis Head, Jaydev Unadkat, Akash Singh, Jhathavedh Subramanyan.

Match starts at 7.30 PM.