The third game of the IPL 2020 will be a match-up between 2016 finalists Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Royal Challengers Bangalore. Over the years, these two teams have been involved in closely contested battles and another and is expected to be on the same lines when the teams take the field. The match will see arguably two of the best players in the IPL come face to face. While David Warner has scored over 500 runs every season in the IPL since 2014, Virat Kohli is the league’s top scorer. Both teams have assembled good squads ahead of the 2020 season with Virat Kohli going to name his squad, the most balanced since 2016.
Heading into the Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Royal Challengers Bangalore game, both sides look pretty evenly matched. Talking about SRH first, the return of David Warner as captain and Jonny Bairstow at the top of the order will bring a lot of stability in the batting order. The middle-order has a lot of options to choose from. from Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Mohammad Nabi, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha all provide flexibility to the batting order.
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Team Sunrisers Hyderabad
What the SRH camp rich boasts about in the last few seasons is having arguably the best bowling attack. They have a predominantly Indian core of bowlers with Rashid Khan as their specialist spinner and a certainty for all 14 matches. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has won the Purple Cap in the IPL twice (2016, 2017). Also in Siddharth Kaul, Sandeep Sharma, they have the two best young Indian swing bowlers. Mohammed Nabi gives them another spinning option with Rashid. Thus ahead of this all-important contest, SRH looks a stronger team.
Team Royal Challengers Bangalore
Coming to Royal Challengers Bangalore, like every year they look a batting heavy unit. They have stacked up their batting with the inclusion of Aaron Finch in the squad. RCB’s top three looks the best in the IPL with Virat Kohli, Aaron Finch and AB De Villiers being a part of it.
Where they are in the backfoot against SRH is in their bowling attack. Though leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal asserted that the team has got their death bowling sorted, the concern remains. Dale Steyn is making a comeback, virtually playing o cricket in the meantime. How long can he keep himself injury-free is also a concern. Their Indian contingent of pacers Mohammed Siraj and Navdeep Saini, though are good but are inexperienced.
Thus the bowling attack will revolve around Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Chris Morris and Dale Steyn. In comparison to the skill level of the SRH bowlers, the RCB bowlers look a bit weak. Thus when the Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Royal Challengers Bangalore battle starts, one feels that the better bowling attack will dictate terms in the contest.
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Head to Head – Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Royal Challengers Bangalore
Both teams have played 15 games so far in the IPL. SRH are ahead in the head to head count by8-6. One game ended in a no result. Interestingly, SRH beat RCB in the IPL 206 final.
Weather and Pitch Conditions
Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting said that the Dubai wicket has a rich cover of grass and will assist the seamers ahead of the DC vs KXIP clash. The Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Royal Challengers Bangalore match will also be played in Dubai on September 21 and conditions are not expected to change much over 24 hours. Temparatures will be also on the higher 30’s for the contest.
Team News For Sunriers Hyderabad vs Royal Challengers Bangalore
There are no injury concerns from both camps ahead of their IPL 2020 opener. Thus it is expected that both teams will field their strongest XI and will attack from the get go.
Squads
Royal Challengers Bangalore
AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal, Gurkeerat Singh, Moeen Ali, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Parthiv Patel, Pawan Negi, Shivam Dube, Umesh Yadav, Virat Kohli, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Aaron Finch, Chris Morris, Dale Steyn, Isuru Udana, Joshua Philippe, Kane Richardson, Pavan Deshpande, Shahbaz Ahamad.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Abhishek Sharma, Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Billy Stanlake, David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shreevats Goswami, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha, Abdul Samad, Fabian Allen, Mitchell Marsh, Priyam Garg, Sandeep Bavanaka, Sanjay Yadav, Virat Singh.
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