RCB vs SRH
He can take the match away from you in a matter of a few deliveries. This wizard with a magic wand can deliver brutal blows and yet make it seem delicate and attractive over the 360 degrees that is his range. The explosive genius of AB de Villiers, under pressure, was in full view, as Royal Challengers Bangalore snatched a last-ball thriller against Mumbai Indians in the IPL lung-opener. And the RCB line-up has so many match-winners, including skipper Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell. But then, in the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday, RCB will need to work on its bowling. Someone like Washington Sundar, so successful with the ball in Twenty20 cricket, needs to bowl his full quota of overs. Against MI, he sent down just one over and made an impact by dismissing a rampant Chris Lynn. RCB has bowling depth, and seamer Harshal Patel bowled with clever variations against MI to scalp five. When your domestic uncapped players do well, it augurs well for your team.
On the other side SRH has a problem. It cannot afford to bench someone with the temperament and stroke-making ability of Kane Williamson. Without him, the team appears a lesser outfit. It’s not just about his high-quality batting. Given his cricketing nous, his inputs to David Warner will be invaluable. SRH can bench Mohammad Nabi and ask Vijay Shankar and Abdul Samad to share four overs between them. This will be a game full of mini-battles. Bhuvneshwar Kumar versus the influential de Villiers will be intriguing. And Rashid Khan vs. Kohli and Maxwell are mouthwatering match-ups. Curbing the heavy-hitting Warner will be a challenge for RCB. The surface might be sluggish, but this will be a high-octane clash.
Former South African cricketer AB de Villiers was one of the heroes in the first game of the IPL 2021. When RCB were struggling and most of their crucial batsmen lost their wickets, de Villiers played the crucial knock of 48 off just 27 balls with the help of 4 fours and 2 sixes. Though he couldn’t finish the game due to a run-out, he almost secured that game as RCB needed 2 more runs in the last two balls to win that match.
Jonny Bairstow’s good run with the bat would make it difficult for the side to include Williamson. Nabi’s all-around abilities make it important to play him at Chepauk as well. Therefore, it looks like SRH won’t be making any change for the big game against RCB. Though, you might see a change in SRH’s batting order. After witnessing Abdul Samad’s batting exploits in the final over, the fans are likely to see him bat higher up the order.
Till date the 31-year-old Harshal Patel’s overall wicket tally in the IPL stands at 51, with his previous best being the 17 he scalped in 15 matches for RCB during the 2015 season. Patel felt he needed the change after it went downhill due to limited playing opportunities at Delhi Capitals. And the trade back to RCB seems to have worked wonders for the Gujarat-born Patel, who has hit the ground running and became the first player to take five-for against MI.
Shahbaz Ahmed played the first match of the IPL 2021 which was his third IPL match. While he bowled only one over in the latest match, he conceded 14 runs in that over. Later, he scored only one run with the bat. He has to prove himself soon to secure his spot in the RCB playing XI.
Unlike a major revamp of the squad, RCB will participate in this year’s IPL without making any changes to their jersey. The Virat Kohli-men reached the playoffs last year, and will target to take a step further and get their hands on the elusive maiden IPL title.
Sunrisers Hyderabad will once again have plans revolving around their x-factor spinner, Rashid Khan. Against an RCB side that has struggled against spin, using Rashid against the key players will be in focus. They struggled against a quality Kolkata batting line-up with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and the pace attack having a rough game. They face RCB, a side that beat the defending champions first game and will be eyeing another win at a difficult venue for them.
PITCH ANALYSIS:
The wicket remain sluggish right from the beginning of game. Hence it would be wise to use spinners in the power-play to scalp early wickets. Again Chasing would be the 1st option of the Captain winning the toss as Dew plays an important role in the last 45-50 mins of the 2nd innings to make chasing easier. Ideal thing to do on this wicket woukd be to attack pacers, seamers as wicket doesn’t seem to offer any help to them in this game.
Predicted Playing 11 of RCB vs SRH:
- Devdutt Padikkal
- Virat kohli
- Glenn Maxwell
- AB de villiers
- Dan Christian
- Rajat Patidar
- Washington sundar
- Mohammed Siraj
- Yuzvendra Chahal
- Kyle Jamieson
- Harshal Patel
Predicted Playing 11 of SRH vs RCB:
- David Warner
- Wriddiman Saha
- Manish Pandey
- Jonny Bairstow
- Kane Williamson
- Abdul Samad
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar
- Rashid Khan
- T Natarajan
- Sandeep Sharma
- Siddharth Kaul
The Above Predicted Playing 11 for both teams are the best combination against each other and will make sure everything falls in place if execution of respective plans are proper and handy without any complications.