The much-awaited IPL 2021 is certainly living up to its billing. Just 5 matches into the tournament and we’ve already seen some edge-of-the-seat stuff. This match also promises to do the same as it is the ‘South Indian Derby’. The Royal Challengers Bangalore take on the Sunrisers Hyderabad in a match that is also being at a neutral venue again in South India at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on 14th April.
Virat Kohli’s men got off to a flying start to the tournament as they were able to keep the defending champions at bay in the opening match of IPL 2021. There were some fireworks from the one and only AB de Villiers. He made sure that all the Bangalore fans slept that night with a smile on their faces. Royal Challengers Bangalore will be hoping that MR 360 can continue his brilliant run of form.
The Orange Army, on the other hand, had a bit of a contrasting start to their tournament. They were unable to chase 188 against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the same stadium a few nights back. Chasing 188 at Chennai is certainly no easy job. SRH put up a great fight thanks to twin fifties from Jonny Bairstow and Manish Pandey, but they just fell short by 10 runs.
The batting strength of the Royal Challengers Bangalore will certainly be boosted with the return of last year’s emerging player of the year Devdutt Padikkal. He was the top scorer for Royal Challengers Bangalore last year scoring 473 at a strike rate of 124.80 with 5 fifties to his name. RCB will be hoping that Devdutt Padikkal can carry on his domestic as well as last year’s IPL form into this tournament. Other than that the management will be hoping that RCB’s 3 stars Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, and Glenn Maxwell can continue from where they left off at Mumbai. These three took matters into their hands and played superbly in the opener.
In the previous years, we’ve seen how much the Sunrisers’ batting revolves around their skipper David Warner. He was dismissed cheaply vs KKR and hence SRH will surely want to see him back amongst the runs. Jonny Bairstow who batted at number 4 is expected to continue as he scored 55. Abdul Samad looked in decent touch as he smashed a couple of sixes towards the end of the game, both of them coming off Pat Cummins.
Bowling has been one of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s biggest weaknesses over the years. They have often been criticized for their poor bowling display. Although this time around they are looking much better off than the previous few seasons. They have some great bowling options. Virat Kohli made use of 7 bowlers in all against the Mumbai Indians and he rotated them extremely well. The standout among the 7 bowlers was medium-pacer Harshal Patel who picked up a fifer in the opening game. Since the Chennai wicket has a history of being a slow one, RCB would want their highest wicket-taker Yuzvendra Chahal to do well.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling lineup is considered to be solid and is often termed as one of the best among the 8 teams. This bowling attack will be lead by Indian spearhead Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Although Bhuvi had an off-game against KKR, he is expected to do well in this game. How can we talk about the best bowling lineup and not mention Rashid Khan. The man is an absolute genius. In a high-scoring game vs KKR, his figures read 4-0-24-2. It will be interesting to watch his battle with RCB batsman. SRH conceded 187 runs last time at the same venue and they will be desperate to reduce the numbers
Head to Head: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Sunrisers Hyderabad
Played: 18
Sunrisers Hyderabad won: 10
Royal Challengers Bangalore won: 7
No result: 1
The head-to-head between these two teams have always been neck and neck. The only time SRH has dominated Royal Challengers Bangalore is the knockout matches. It is going to be an exciting game of cricket.
Weather and Pitch Report
The weather in Chennai is expected to be clear for a smooth game of cricket. The temperature is expected to be 30 degrees with 67% humidity. There might be few showers early morning but nothing will interrupt the game. The MA Chidambaram Stadium’s track has played out as a balanced surface in this competition. It has got purchase for both batsmen and bowlers, and toss won’t have as big an impact here as it will in the Wankhede Stadium. If the dew factor comes into play then teams will prefer chasing.
Team News
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Devdutt Padikkal is expected to return for this game and will be seen opening with the RCB skipper Virat Kohli. This means that Washington Sundar will have to drop down the order.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: They have no particular injuries and might field the same 11 as their first game. If they decide to change then probably Jason Holder might come in for Mohammad Nabi and Vijay Shankar might make way for Abhishek Sharma.
Squads
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Finn Allen (wk), AB de Villiers (wk), Pavan Deshpande, Washington Sundar, Daniel Sams, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Kane Richardson, Harshal Patel, Glenn Maxwell, Sachin Baby, Rajat Patidar, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Kyle Jamieson, Daniel Christian, Suyash Prabhudessai, K.S. Bharat
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (c), Kane Williamson, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Manish Pandey, Sreevats Goswami (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Priyam Garg, Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, Abdul Samad, Virat Singh,Jason Holder, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T. Natarajan, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddarth Kaul, Basil Thampi, Jagadeesha Suchith, Kedar Jadhav, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Jason Roy.
