Sunrisers Hyderabad would look to get in the driver’s seat to securing a place in the Indian Premier League playoffs when they clash with bottom-placed Royal Challengers Bangalore at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday.
The defeat against Mumbai Indians in the super over must have hurt Hyderabad but they need to shrug it off and add two points to take their tally to 14 points. Despite their defeat on Thursday, Hyderabad’s net run rate is +0.653, which is superior to others in contention for the playoffs.
Even if Hyderabad lose their last match, they can still clinch the fourth spot if Kolkata Knight Riders or Rajasthan Royals fail to win their final match.
In the absence of their batting mainstay David Warner, Manish Pandey was immense against Mumbai and took the match into the super over after he carted Hardik Pandya for a last-ball six to level scores.
However, Pandya and Kieron Pollard took the three-time champions home with three balls to spare.
Captain Kane Williamson, all-rounder Vijay Shankar and comeback man Wriddhiman Saha need to be among the runs. Hyderabad bowlers have performed well in patches and need to get their act together against AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli.
The visitors boast of multi-pronged attack. Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan has been their standout performer.
Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed and experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar, along with ARashid and Mohammed Nabi add sting to Hyderabad attack. Bangalore will be playing for pride after their hopes of entering playoffs went up in smoke against Rajasthan Royals, a match that was abandoned due to rain.
Head-to-Head
Played: 14
RCB won: 5
SRH won: 8
No Result: 1
Squads:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson (c), Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Hooda, Manish Pandey, T Natarajan, Ricky Bhui, Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul, Shreevats Goswami, Khaleel Ahmed, Yusuf Pathan, Billy Stanlake, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Shakib Al Hasan, Wriddhiman Saha, Martin Guptill, Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (c), Parthiv Patel, AB de Villiers, Colin de Grandhomme, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Moeen Ali, Shimron Hetmyer, Dale Steyn, Shivam Dube, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Devdutt Padikkal, Himmat Singh, Milind Kumar, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Heinrich Klaasen, Pawan Negi, Washington Sundar, Akshdeep Nath, Prayas Ray Barman, Kulwant Khejroliya, Tim Southee.
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