On Thursday, struggling Sunrisers Hyderabad will host Royal Challengers Bangalore in the first of their two remaining must-win games in the IPL 2023 league stage. With Virat Kohli seeking to return to the runs, RCB will be full of confidence after destroying another playoff contender Rajasthan Royals last weekend.
RCB, with 12 points from as many games, is still in the running for a top-four finish, while SRH is no longer in the running after a terrible batting performance against the Gujarat Titans, which led to their eighth loss in as many games.
What: RCB vs. SRH
When: Thursday, May 18,
In which stadium: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium
Hours: 7:30 PM IST
The RCB Team
One of the leading scorers for RCB, along with captain Faf du Plessis, is Virat Kohli. However, after back-to-back losses (18 against Rajasthan Royals and 1 against Mumbai Indians), the maestro will be eager to perform at his peak against SRH and aid his team.
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Du Plessis has been leading the team from the front and is in excellent form. He is now in first place on the list of run scorers with 631 runs from 12 games, averaging 57.36.
With 438 runs and an average of 39.81, Kohli is the second-best RCB hitter, with six fifty-plus hits. But unlike Du Plessis, Kohli has not been reliable enough and has sometimes had issues with his strike rate.
Glenn Maxwell is the other batsman that RCB will be relying on. He has made a significant impression with his brilliant hits, which include five half-centuries.
Following a dominant 112-run thrashing of Rajasthan Royals in their most recent encounter, RCB are full of confidence.
RCB scored 171 for 5 after Du Plessis and Maxwell both scored 50, and then Wayne Parnell (3/10) led a group that included Michael Bracewell (2/16), Karn Sharma (2/19), and Mohammed Siraj (1/10) to bowl out RR for only 59.
Again, it would be up to Parnell, Siraj, and Bracewell to perform well in terms of bowling.
The previous game also saw RCB's comeback to winning ways after consecutive losses to MI and Delhi Capitals.
Team SRH News
In contrast, SRH will compete for pride after exiting the competition as the second team. By winning their last two games, they would try to give their supporters something to rejoice about.
This season, SRH's performance has been underwhelming in both the batting and bowling departments.
No other batter could provide for the team, with the exception of Heinrich Klaasen and, to a lesser degree, Rahul Tripathi. Given the high expectations placed on the South African captain, SRH was severely hampered by Aiden Markram's poor performance.
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Harry Brook initially shown some promise before fading away, while Mayank Agarwal was nowhere to be seen.
The most productive bowler for SRH, the seasoned Bhuvneshwar Kumar, has taken 14 wickets in 12 games, but he too didn't seem to be at his best.
Despite Mayank Markande's impressive performance (12 wickets in 10 games), SRH lost greatly as a result of the struggles of Marco Jansen, T Natarajan, and Umran Malik.
Entire Squads
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis (c), Akash Deep, Finn Allen, Anuj Rawat, Avinash Singh, Manoj Bhandage, Michael Bracewell, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Siddarth Kaul, Virat Kohli, Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, Wayne Parnell, Harshal Patel, Suyash Prabhudessai, Rajan Kumar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Karn Sharma, Himanshu Sharma, Sonu Yadav, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Kedar Jadhav.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Aiden Markram (c), Abdul Samad, Rahul Tripathi, Glenn Phillips, Abhishek Sharma, Marco Jansen, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kartik Tyagi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T. Natarajan, Umran Malik, Harry Brook, Mayank Agarwal, Heinrich Klaasen, Adil Rashid, Mayank Markande, Vivrant Sharma, Samarth Vyas, Sanvir Singh, Upendra Yadav, Mayank Dagar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Akeal Hosein and Anmolpreet Singh.
