RCB hopes to build on winning momentum as another Southern classic beckons

The last time these two teams met in the ongoing edition of the IPL, there was chaos, and there was despair as the Challengers were skittled out for a paltry 68. The Sunrisers had no trouble whatsoever to secure a comfortable win as Abhishek Sharma and Kane Williamson came in perfect tandem as the Orange Army breezed past the Challengers.

However, in a marathon tournament like IPL, there are days like these when everything you touch turns into ashes while there will also be days where everything you imagine bursts to life. Call it magic, call it miracles or call it the extraterrestrial whims of cricket, it is days like these that make the tournament brim with uncertainties.

The second chapter of another southern classic for the Challengers await as they take the yard against the Sunrisers who have come close to the finishing line twice in the last two games and yet has failed to cross it. For the Challengers, the equation is simple. With three games remaining, no contest from hereon will be a dead rubber. Anything less than a victory will be jeopardizing their campaign and there will be countless permutations and combinations with the smiling visage of lady luck coming together, keeping the team on tenterhooks.

The Sunrisers started their campaign on a wobbling note with two consecutive defeats before the entire side would come back to life winning five games on the trot that would make them a threatening contender for the play-offs. Just when it felt that they are unstoppable, their juggernaut would clatter onto a colossal wall that would see them lose three consecutive matches against the Gujarat Titans, Chennai Super Kings and the Delhi Capitals. 

Before things aggravated, RCB have managed to arrest the decline as the batters put up a formidable show before the bowlers left their southern rivals CSK reeling short of the stipulated total on the cards.

RCB will be desperate to keep their winning momentum alive against a side who has banked on some decent batting in recent times to seal the fate of the tie. It won’t be a walk in the park for either of the contingencies. It will be cold-minded business that will pit two monsters of the campaign, tearing apart at each other with every single opportunity that would come their way.

Venue Watch:

The contest between the two glacial kingdoms of the south will be played at the Wankhede. Mumbai’s cricketing Mecca has hosted some historic rivalries in the past and it would simply stay witness to another war between the Orange Army and an ocean of green. The surface has always been kind to the batters and will remain the same except for the opening five overs of the game. There will be some early movement that will keep the batters on their toes but that would be transitory as the track would eventually incline towards the willow-wielders with every passing over. Given the fact that this is a day contest, dew is unlikely to play a part, thereby negating an added advantage that the team batting second could have had. The last game played at this venue produced a high-scoring affair between the Royals and Punjab Kings where the latter would chase down a total of 189 comfortably, underlining the assistance that the surface has for the batting units.

Squads:

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, Faf du Plessis, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dinesh Karthik, Josh Hazlewood, Shahbaz Ahmed, Anuj Rawat, Akash Deep, Mahipal Lomror, Finn Allen, Sherfane Rutherford, Jason Behrendorff, Suyash Prabhudesai, Chama Milind, Aneeshwar Gautam, Karn Sharma, David Willey, Rajat Patidar, Siddharth Kaul.

Sunrisers Hyderabad:

Kane Williamson, Abdul Samad, Umran Malik, Washington Sundar, Nicholas Pooran, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Priyam Garg, Rahul Tripathi, Abhishek Sharma, Kartik Tyagi, Shreyas Gopal, Jagadeesha Suchith, Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen, Romario Shepherd, Sean Abbott, R Samarth, Shashank Singh, Saurabh Dubey, Vishnu Vinod, Glenn Phillips, Fazalhaq Farooqi.

Match Details:

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Sunrisers Hyderabad

Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Date: 8th May 2022

Time: 3:30 PM IST