Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Sunrisers Hyderabad preview: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Match 30 of the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Monday. RCB are coming off a four-match winless run, and their only win this season came against Punjab Kings (PBKS) at this very same ground on 25 March.
For the Faf du Plessis-led side, it’s been a disappointing season so far as they lie tenth in the 10-team points table with just two points to their name. They face an SRH side who have won three of their last four games.
Things are not going right for RCB. Virat Kohli’s strike-rate has been questioned time and again, whereas Glenn Maxwell is yet to produce his best this season. And their bowlers have been far from their best this season. RCB used six bowlers against Mumbai Indians (MI) in their previous match and each of them had a tough day going for an economy rate of over 10 runs per over. If there’s anything that RCB need to improve, it’s their bowling and will also hope that RCB’s middle-order batters get going.
Kohli (3) had an off day against MI but Faf du Plessis, Rajat Patidar and Dinesh Karthik all scored fifties to guide RCB to 196. Yet, the bowlers succumbed to pressure as MI romped home with 27 balls to spare.
SRH, meanwhile, will be looking for a third win on the trot. Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma have been important to SRH’s batting along with Heinrich Klaasen and their newfound hero in Nitish Reddy. In terms of matchups, it will be interesting to see how Virat Kohli fares against Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Bhuvneshwar enjoys a decent record against Kohli in the IPL, having taken the former skipper’s wicket four times in the tournament.
Just like any other match, there will be pressure on Kohli to come good but RCB’s middle-order will have to step up and go that extra mile as they bid to keep themselves alive this tournament.
Squads:
RCB: Faf du Plessis (C), Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Vyshak Vijay Kumar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Mayank Dagar, Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Swapnil Singh
SRH: Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Anmolpreet Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Glenn Phillips, Heinrich Klaasen, Marco Jansen, Mayank Agarwal, Mayank Markande, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Rahul Tripathi, Sanvir Singh, Shahbaz Ahamad (T), T. Natarajan, Umran Malik, Upendra Singh Yadav, Washington Sundar, Travis Head, Wanindu Hasaranga, Pat Cummins (C), Jaydev Unadkat, Akash Maharaj Singh, Jhatavedh Subramanyan