The IPL 2020 Eliminator will see a repeat of the 2016 finalists taking on each other, in a knockout contest. Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore finished as the third and the fourth team in the points table and hence will be competing in the eliminator. The match will be played in Abu Dhabi, where both teams have fared well earlier in the competition. The loser of this game will be knocked out from the tournament, while the winner will play in the second qualifier on Sunday, November 08.
Royal Challengers Bangalore get into this game on the back of a loss against Delhi Capitals. More importantly, they lost four on the bounce to get into the playoffs. Luck played a big role in helping Virat Kohli’s men reach the playoffs. Now having reached there they play straight in the Eliminator and stand a chance to get themselves eliminated. They face a team in Sunrisers Hyderabad who have won three matches to get into the playoffs.
Confidence wise they are flying, while RCB are still looking for a winning combination. Losing four matches also means that they are not very sure of picking the right squad for this knockout contest. RCB’s chance to cash in the contest lies at the top. If Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers get going, RCB will be in the contest or else not. Their bowling also largely depends on the performance of Yuzvendra Chahal. If Navdeep Saini and Chris Morris can provide him the adequate throw a challenge to the Sunrisers or else not.
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Sunrisers Hyderabad, on the other hand, come into this contest, on the back of three back to back wins. The injection of Wriddhiman Saha has been a masterstroke by the management. He has formed quite a pairing with skipper David Warner, keeping the England international Jonny Bairstow on the bench.
Saha’s inclusion has also helped Kane Williamson to be slotted in the middle-order adding more depth to the line-up. Williamson is a bank for Warner from whom returns are almost guaranteed if they lose early wickets. Manish Pandey’s attacking approach at number three has been faring well for the Sunrisers Hyderabad so far.
With the ball, Sandeep Sharma has been a revelation. He has been taking wickets at the top and limiting the damage in the back end. With two spinners Rashid Khan and Shahbaz Nadeem, Sunrisers Hyderabad are controlling the middle overs. This has been their formulae in the last few games and they would like to follow the same in the eliminator as well.
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Head to Head: Ahead of IPL 2020 Eliminator
Out of the 17 games played between both sides, Sunrisers Hyderabad has won nine, while RCB seven. Both teams have won one game each in IPL 2020.
Pitch & Weather Conditions
The toss at Abu Dhabi will be significant once more with the last five fixtures all having won by the chasing team. Dew is setting in pretty early in the last few games, as early as the second half of the first innings. SRH won their last two games chasing, something which they will have at the back of their mind if they win the toss. The dew factor will be playing on the minds of both the captains.
Team News
Navdeep Saini has recovered from his hand injury and is likely to return. Meanwhile, RCB is sweating over Chris Morris’s hamstring injury and their inconsistent middle-order. While Udana may make way for Moeen Ali who gives them options with bat and ball, they would ideally hope Morris recovers on time.
Sunrisers Hyderabad having beaten Mumbai Indians by 10 wickets in their last game would not like to change anything about their playing XI.
Squads
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel (wk), Aaron Finch, Josh Philippe, Chris Morris, Moeen Ali, Mohammed Siraj, Shahbaz Ahmed, Devdutt Padikkal, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini, Dale Steyn, Pawan Negi, Isuru Udana, Shivam Dube, Umesh Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Washington Sundar, Pavan Deshpande, Adam Zampa
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Kane Williamson, David Warner (c), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Manish Pandey, Mohammad Nabi, Priyam Garg, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Virat Singh, Basil Thampi, Abhishek Sharma, Billy Stanlake, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shreevats Goswami, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan, Bavanaka Sandeep, Fabian Allen, Abdul Samad, Sanjay Yadav, Rashid Khan, Jason Holder, Prithvi Raj Yarra
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