RCB return home with an eye on two crucial points against SRH

It has been a campaign that has posed quite a few questions for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru so far but then the team has enough firepower up their sleeves which they will try and put to the fullest use when Sunrisers Hyderabad arrive in their den tonight.

With a solitary win in their repertoire, RCB will be eyeing to add more points to their tally against a formidable SRH. The latter has so far been in fine touch with three wins from five games and will be hopeful of continuing their good run against Faf du Plessis and company.

SRH had a close win against Punjab Kings in the last clash as they secured a 2-run victory wherein RCB did put up a reckoning display with the bat, riding high on the shoulders of Dinesh Karthik and Faf du Plessis. However, they will be needing more big guns to fire.

Venue Watch

This year’s surface at Chinnaswamy has been slightly different from the others with the ball holding up in the first innings. With the appearance of the dew though, it has been easy to bat on in the second innings. As both the teams come forth with some splendid batting prowess, this can very well be a run-fest.

Personal battles to watch out for:

Virat Kohli vs Pat Cummins:

As things stand, Virat has been the brightest star in RCB’s batting echelons. Currently holding the Orange Cap with 319 runs in his tally, he will once again be the apple of RCB’s eye when they take on SRH. Pat Cummins, though, has been one of SRH’s key components this season. With six wickets in his tally, he has proven to be of crucial worth to the side and will be hopeful of adding more. However, this particular rivalry has been seen before time and time again, both in IPL and the international circuit.

Faf du Plessis vs T Natarajan:

The South African opener was back in the runs in the preceding encounter and will be looking forward to continuing the dominant run. With 170 runs in his kitty scored at a strike rate of 139.34, the RCB skipper is simply warming up. Natarajan has been making a comeback and he has looked good so far for his haul of five wickets. With the ball drifting away from Faf, this rivalry is going to be one to watch out for.

Dinesh Karthik vs Bhuvneshwar Kumar:

The Finisher Supreme has been to his scintillating best already with a tally of 143 runs. But most importantly they have come at a strike rate of 190.66. In the last fixture where RCB needed something special to finish things off, DK smashed an unbeaten 53 from just 23 balls. It would be expected that he can once again step up with RCB needing all hands on deck. Bhuvi, on the contrary, has been slightly expensive but the kind of experience that he brings alongside him, that is too vast to be overlooked. Being a death over specialist, his rivalry with DK will be something to savour.

Match details:

Match: Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Sunrisers Hyderabad

Venue: Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

Date: 16th April, 2024

Time: 7:30 PM

Head-to-head:

Matches played: 23

RCB: 10

SRH: 12

Squads:

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:

Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram (c), 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, Wanindu Hasaranga, Pat Cummins, Jaydev Unadkat, Akash Singh, Jhathavedh Subramanyan.