Titans collide as Challengers take the yard with a revitalized Sunrisers

If you have made some plans already for the weekend that doesn’t encompass the swashbuckling battle of the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Sunrisers Hyderabad, maybe you should reconsider them. The Challengers will be hammering hard as they take the yard with a titan called the Sunrisers Hyderabad redivivus.

Call it a gutter war or a slugfest, whatever you want but at the end of the day, cricket will be at its hallowed best as two teams high on momentum and some insane individual displays will be locking horns with a unified objective of extending their heat at the top of the points table.

The Challengers will be coming to this encounter on the back of a sizzling win against the Lucknow Super Giants as their skipper, Faf spearheaded the charge with the bat while Australian quick, Josh Hazlewood blazed through the Giants with an ecstatic four-fer.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad started their campaign on a wobbling note that saw them losing two of their opening games against the Royals and the Giants. However, they roared back to life with a string of amazing displays that saw them reviving their campaign against Chennai Super Kings before demolishing the likes of the Titans, KKR and Punjab Kings emphatically.

This will be a cracker of a contest as both the teams have versed themselves well in the art of winning and more importantly, they have shown a never-give-up attitude. RCB has practically turned around four of their five games from almost inextricable situations, making the wins even more special. The Orange Army, on the contrary, had their early skepticism but managed to shake it off without any hassle whatsoever.

Venue Watch:

Brabourne Stadium has been a paradise for the batters with pretty shorter pockets along the boundary lines. This surface practically has nothing for the bowlers, even though some early seam movement maybe beneficial for the team chasing. There will be turn for sure in the second half of the game but the dew factor will be making it quite difficult for the spinners to grip the ball, thereby balancing out the equations. A formidable total needs to be posted in the first innings if the ones defending eyes for the bragging rights.

Battles to watch out for:

Faf du Plessis versus Kane Williamson: This will be a delectable battle of the two captains as Faf du Plessis gave a glimpse of the kind of carnage that he is capable of if he gets his eyes in. He was in fine touch against the Giants as he conjured a very special knock that saw him equalling his IPL best of 96 before finally falling to a miscued effort. Kane Williamson is simply one of the topmost artists of the craft of batting and he won’t need an invite to hack away at the bowlers. An astute reader of the game and with a boatload of expertise in his shed, he fits the bill perfectly that would star one of the finest rivalries in the cricketing roster.

Virat Kohli versus Rahul Tripathi: The look in Virat’s eyes when he got out for a golden duck in the last game would haunt his fans even in their sweetest dreams. He was simply hurt and couldn’t barely stand the ignominy. However, when he came to the field, he was nothing short of electric and the kind of bedazzling brilliance that he showed in the second half, gave away volumes about India’s former captain. He always has a knack for making his comeback louder than ever and with the current form he is in, you simply won’t be able to guess, what’s right around the corner. Rahul Tripathi has been in fine touch and will be leading the charge for the Indian base of the Sunrisers. He has been picking up his shots pretty neatly and the kind of aggression that he comes in with, makes him a priceless asset for any IPL franchise.

Mohammed Siraj versus Umran Malik: Let’s keep aside the numbers for a while and admire the sheer brutality of these two. Siraj has been racking up speeds of 145 plus pretty regularly and this is a new aspect of the Indian international alongside the insane swing that he is able to produce. Even though, the numbers haven’t been kind to him, yet he is slowly getting back to the groove and a prime Siraj can even tame a fully-set Andre Russell, so beware. Umran Malik has been absolutely mind-bending with numbers of 150 plus deluging the speed gun. Maybe, he has gone for a few runs but he comes in with a pretty fierce mindset and he is not going to stop anytime soon.

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, Luvnith Sisodia, Siddharth Kaul.

Sunrisers Hyderabad:

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

Match details:

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Sunrisers Hyderabad

Venue: Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai

Date: 23rd April 2022

Time: 7:30 PM IST