Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad began their IPL 2020 campaign by playing against each and in a lot of ways they play each other once again in a match that shall decide their respective futures in this season. While RCB need one win to qualify for the playoffs, a single defeat in the last two matches for SRH would mean that they exit the competition at the league stage.

Both teams come into this game in contrasting form. Bangalore lost their game against the Mumbai Indians which saw the latter qualify for the playoffs, whereas Hyderabad go to Sharjah on the back of a huge 88 run victory against the Delhi Capitals. Wriddhiman Saha came into the Sunrisers team last match and played a fantastic innings. The form of captain David Warner is also a massive positive for SRH going into their last 2 games. Their bowling department has been fairly good all season being led by Rashid Khan and Natarajan.

RCB would have to sort out their bowling department going into their final 2 games of the league stage. The bowling has been far too inconsistent this season as opposed to their batting. The form of Virat Kohli and Ab de Villiers will be crucial for them. While the likes of Padikkal, Washington Sundar and Chahal have been very consistent this season, its time for the big boys to win the matches now.

Injury updates:

  • The Royal Challengers will be waiting on Navdeep Saini’s fitness status. The fast bowler had split the webbing of his right hand in the loss to the Super Kings.
  • The Sunrisers’ swap of Jonny Bairstow for Kane Williamson led to Wriddhiman Saha being pushed into the opener’s slot and that change is likely to remain the same.

Predicted Lineups:

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Josh Philippe, 2 Devdutt Padikkal, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 AB de Villiers (wk), 5 Gurkeerat Singh Mann, 6 Shivam Dube/Moeen Ali, 7 Chris Morris, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Isuru Udana/Navdeep Saini, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 David Warner (capt), 2. Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Kane Williamson, 5 Vijay Shankar, 6 Abdul Samad, 7 Jason Holder, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Shahbaz Nadeem, 10 T Natarajan, 11 Sandeep Sharma

Important Stats:

  • None of these teams have gone through a season with an all-win record against the other when they’ve played at least two games, splitting wins each time. They played each other thrice in 2016, with Sunrisers beating the Royal Challengers in the IPL final.
  • Of the ten IPL 2020 games played at Sharjah so far, the split between winning batting first and second is five-five. However, the last four matches at Sharjah have been won by the chasing team, with dew playing a more prominent role as the tournament has gone on too.
  • Kohli has played 14 matches against the Sunrisers. He made more than 40 in six of his first seven games against them, but in the latter seven games, he has gone past 40 just once.
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TOPICS: david warner Royal Challengers Bengaluru SRH sunrisers hyderabad