Two among the most inconsistent sides in the VIVO IPL 2016, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore, will lock horns in an all-important clash at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal, Hyderabad on Saturday. The Challengers have not had any momentum in the tournament and have won just 2 out of the 5 matches they have played. On the other hand, the Sunrisers made a terrific comeback after losing 2 straight games to register 3 victories and then lose again in their 6th match. It will essentially be a contest between RCB's batting and SRH's bowling and it will be interesting to see which team emerges the winner.
Here is a look at the team which may turn up for the Sunrisers Hyderabad against RCB:
Batting
David Warner is currently the leading run-scorer for the Sunrisers with 294 runs in 6 innings at an average in excess of 70. The skipper had a rare failure in their previous match against the Rising Pune Supergiants as he was dismissed for a duck. Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan has also come good for SRH of late and has scored 170 runs so far.
Not many other batsmen have performed too well for them apart from the openers with Eoin Morgan being the only other batsman with over 100 runs. The likes of Naman Ojha, Deepak Hooda and Moises Henriques have hardly contributed as batsmen and this has caused problems for the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
A consistent performance from the batting line-up is one of the primary requirements for the Hyderabad team at the moment.
All-rounders
The Sunrisers have tried a lot of all-rounders in the 2016 IPL but they don't seem to be clicking. Henriques, Hooda and Bipul Sharma played in the last match against RPS; however, none of them made too much of an impact. The SRH team management may be tempted to make a few changes to the team at least in terms of all-rounders for the match against RCB.
Bowling
The bowling attack of the Sunrisers Hyderabad is doing a brilliant job at present and has been a driving force behind their reasonable success in the tournament. The incredible combination of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mustafizur Rahman has been doing wonders with the ball. While Bhuvneshwar is their leading wicket-taker with 9 wickets, Rahman has 7 wickets in his kitty and has conceded his runs at a miserly economy of 6.18 per over.
SRH's bowling has been bolstered by the return of frontline pacer Ashish Nehra and picked up the wicket of MS Dhoni on his return. The spin bowling department has been the only concern for the Sunrisers as none of the spinners has made a decent contribution till now. If they can improve on this aspect, it will certainly help the SRH's cause in the tournament.
Probable Playing XI
David Warner (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Aditya Tare, Eoin Morgan, Tirumalasetti Suman, Naman Ojha, Ben Cutting, Karn Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mustafizur Rahman, Ashish Nehra.
Click Next to continue reading the Probable XI for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The 27th match of the VIVO IPL 2016 will see an encounter between the Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal, Hyderabad. Even though RCB has easily been the best batting side in the tournament, they have struggled to win matches. Contrastingly, the Sunrisers have been exceptional with the ball but are still stuck in the bottom half of the league table at 5th. Both teams played their first match of the 9th IPL against each other and it was the Bangalore side that had flexed its batting muscle to overpower SRH by 45 runs. It will be an important game for both Bangalore and Hyderabad as they will want to achieve consistency.
Here's our prediction on how Royal Challengers may line up for the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad:
Batting
RCB's batting in the 2016 IPL has been all about skipper Virat Kohli and master batsman AB de Villiers. Between them, the duo has amassed an astonishing 636 runs, which is nearly 70 per cent of the runs scored by the team. Kohli heads the Orange Cap contenders list with 367 runs in just 5 innings at a phenomenal average of 91.75 whereas de Villiers has 269 runs at an average of just under 54.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore batting will also receive a major boost following the return of Chris Gayle to the line-up. There has not been much to talk about in terms of other batsmen barring a fifty from KL Rahul in the previous game and a few cameos from Sarfaraz Khan and Shane Watson.
Batting has not been Bangalore's problem in this season and they will be hopeful that it remains this way.
All-rounders
There has not been much to cheer about on the all-rounders front for Royal Challengers Bangalore this season. Watson may have bowled pretty well but he has failed to make enough impact with the bat. Stuart Binny, on the other hand, hasn't got too many chances to perform in his new team.
Some of the other all-rounders in the team like David Wiese and Parvez Rasool have also not played too many matches so far. The Challengers would require at least one or two of their all-rounders to play a big role for them going forward.
Bowling
The Bangalore bowling attack has been their primary cause for concern in the 9th edition of the IPL. Watson has been the only bright spot with 7 wickets in 5 matches and an economy rate of just over 8. Fast bowler Kane Richardson has picked up 5 wickets too but has been way too expensive, giving away his runs at 9.10 per over.
The spin attack, led by leggie Yuzvendra Chahal, has also struggled to get going with him and Iqbal Abdulla claiming just 3 wickets each. New recruit Tabraiz Shamsi has been impressive, though, with 2 wickets in 2 matches. RCB desperately need to get their bowling combination sorted if they intend to perform well enough to qualify for the playoffs.
Probable Playing XI
Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Shane Watson, KL Rahul (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Kedar Jadhav, Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Abu Nechim, Tabraiz Shamsi.
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