In the 52nd match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will be locking horns with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Saturday. SRH will be high on confidence after their win over DC, but RCB isn’t going to be an easy opponent to face for them. Simply put, this is a do-or-die situation for SRH, one loss and they will be out of the tournament. On the contrary, if SRH wins, their playoff hopes will stay alive. 

However, David Warner will have to deal with a couple of injury concerns – that of Vijay Shankar and Wriddhiman Saha. Although there has been no official confirmation on the injury update,  Saha’s groin injury may keep him out of the XI. On the other hand, RCB has suffered two defeats in a row as they looked a little shaky in the bowling department after failing to defend decent targets.

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RCB is currently at the second position in the IPL points table with 14 points from 12 matches. A victory against SRH will seal their position in the IPL playoffs and captain Virat Kohli would look to get the best out of the team. They are likely to make some changes to their lineup when they face SRH.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)

RCB has been picking their XIs on the basis of conditions, which means they don’t have a settled XI yet. Dale Steyn had a forgettable outing against Mumbai Indians and seems likely to sit this one out. RCB might consider playing an extra bowler at Sharjah and that could see a return for Isuru Udana. KXIP has shown here that two legspinners can be made to work so Adam Zampa remains an option. If Shivam Dube isn’t seen as a bowling option, RCB will look at picking Shahbaz Ahmed or even Umesh Yadav.

Probable XI: Devdutt Padikkal, Joshua Philippe, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers (wk), Gurkeerat Mann, Washington Sundar, Chris Morris, Isuru Udana/Adam Zampa, Shahbaz Ahmed/Navdeep Saini/Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)

SRH might go with the same opening combination, after a blistering knock from Saha. They’ll hope Saha recovers for this encounter given Jonny Bairstow’s reintroduction will disturb their overseas combination once more because Warner has needed the overs from Jason Holder. If required, they can also bring Sreevats Goswami to the top with an instruction to try and match the tempo will work well. Abhishek Sharma may have to fill in with his left-arm spinners if Vijay is not fit.

Probable XI: David Warner (c), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Abdul Samad, Vijay Shankar/Abhishek Sharma, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem/Khaleel Ahmed, T. Natarajan