IPL 2017, RCB vs SRH: Face Off

After a humiliating loss at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bangalore have two home games to change things around for them in IPL 2017. First up, they welcome Sunrisers Hyderabad, who have faltered on their travels till now and also lost their last game due to MS Dhoni's heroics. For RCB though, each game is a must-win at this juncture, if they have any hopes of qualifying for the playoffs.

Though the Warner led side have a head to head advantage over the Royal Challengers with six wins compared to RCB's four, the M Chinnaswamy stadium has not been a happy hunting ground for them.

Extra Cover: IPL 2017, RCB v SRH: 5 factors of winning

RCB lead 3-2 at their home ground but the last three matches have gone in the favour of the Sunrisers. RCB do not have any major injury woes while Hyderabad will welcome back Ashish Nehra and Yuvraj Singh into the fray to start tonight.

Here, we statistically compare the two expected starting lineups of both the sides in order to find a favourite for this encounter. The comparison made is only based on the IPL career stats with the internationals not being counted for this head to head comparison.

Royal Challengers Bangalore	Sunrisers Hyderabad	Who’s better?
Virat Kohli	Shikhar Dhawan	RCB
Runs - 4264, Avg - 38.07, SR - 130.48	Runs - 3317, Avg - 32.2, SR - 120.84
Chris Gayle	David Warner	Even-Stevens
Runs - 3570, Avg - 42.5, SR - 152.17	Runs - 3655, Avg - 39.3, SR - 141.12
AB De Villiers	Kane Williamson	N/A
Runs - 3402, Avg - 39.56, SR - 148.95	Runs - 265, Avg - 29.44, SR - 123.83
Mandeep Singh	Yuvraj Singh	SRH
Runs - 989, Avg - 19.39, SR - 122.1	Runs - 2431, Avg - 25.06, SR - 131.41
Kedar Jadhav	Naman Ojha	SRH
Runs - 801, Avg - 25.03, SR - 136.69	Runs - 1528, Avg - 21.22, SR - 119
Stuart Binny	Moises Henriques	SRH
Runs - 765, Avg - 20.68, SR - 128.14 Wkts - 20, Avg - 33.2, Eco - 7.55	Runs - 885, Avg - 28.55, SR - 128.45 Wkts - 38, Avg - 28.84, Eco - 8.1
Pawan Negi	Deepak Hooda	RCB
Runs - 244, Avg - 16.27, Sr - 127.08 Wkts - 20, Avg - 33.85, Eco - 7.87	Runs - 373, Avg - 14.35, SR - 139.18 Wkts - 6, Avg - 41.83, Eco - 8.05
Samuel Badree	Rashid Khan	N/A
Wkts - 8, Avg - 25.62, Eco - 6.83	Wkts - 10, Avg - 19.5, Eco - 6.96
Sreenath Aravind	Sidharth Kaul	N/A
Wkts - 44, Avg - 21.14, Eco - 8.11	Wkts - 8, Avg - 49.88, Eco - 8.77
Tymal Mills	Bhuvaneshwar Kumar	N/A
Wkts - 5, Avg - 30.6, Eco - 8.58	Wkts - 101, Avg - 21.25, Eco - 7.02
Yuzvendra Chahal	Ashish Nehra	Even-Stevens
Wkts - 66, Avg - 21.14, Eco - 7.82	Wkts - 103, Avg - 23.77, Eco - 7.83

*Players who have played less than 15 matches are not being compared

Royal Challengers 2-3 Sunrisers Hyderabad

It is too close to call between these two teams on paper. With Bangalore’s pitch favouring the bowlers so far in the IPL, a lot will rest on Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Tymal Mills.