Sunrises Hyderabad (SRH) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will be locking horns with each other in the 54th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 at the Wankhede Stadium on 8th May. The Kane Williamson-led side has faced three straight defeats in a row and they will be eyeing to get back to the winnings ways.
SHR is currently at sixth position in the points table with five wins in ten matches and they are likely to bring back T Natarajan into the playing XI to replace Kartik Tyagi. On the other hand, the Royal Challengers Bangalore finally managed to end their losing streak in the previous game against the Chennai Super Kings.
ALSO READ: Match 54 (SRH vs RCB) – Probable XI And Fantasy XI
Under the captaincy of Faf du Plessis, RCB hasn’t seen the best of Virat Kohli yet this year, but a good bowling display has ensured that they still pick up points. With six wins in 11 games, RCB is currently at the fourth position in the points table and is likely to stick with the same playing XI from the previous game. In the 21 meetings between the two sides in IPL so far, SRH is leading the charts 12-8 against RCB in the head-to-head battles. In the last 5 meetings, however, it’s 3-2 in favor of RCB.
Both RCB and CSK have had veteran players who know exactly what to do in these scenarios and ahead of the much-awaited mid-week blockbuster, We take a look at the player battles to watch out for.
#1 Umran Malik vs Glenn Maxwell
Glenn Maxwell didn’t face Umran Malik in their reverse fixture. Their duel in the middle overs will be crucial considering Malike has dismissed some of the fiery batters in the IPL. Despite his breezy start in the previous game against Chennai, the Aussie was dismissed just as he looked to ease in. He has amassed 160 runs from seven matches, while Malik, with 15 wickets in the season so far, will look to get a move on.
#2 Abhishek Sharma vs Josh Hazlewood
Abhishek Sharma played a phenomenal knock of 65 against Gujarat Titans (GT) in SRH’s previous game. Other masterful innings against RCB will be just what SRH will hope for. However, he has to negate the swing and bounce of former CSK pacer, Josh Hazlewood. The Aussie seamer has been in good form with his new franchise, having scalped 11 wickets from seven matches. Hazlewood dismantling the SRH top order may tilt the result in Bangalore’s favor.
#3 Virat Kohli vs Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Virat Kohli managed to score his first fifty of the season in IPL 2022, but his slow-paced innings were seen as one of the reasons for their loss to the Gujarat Titans (GT). Bhuvneshwar Kumar was effective with the ball for Chennai in their last game against RCB, prizing out openers Faf du Plessis and Anuj Rawat. With Kohli now opening the innings, Williamson might just be tempted to continue an extra over of Kumar in powerplay and see if he can get rid of the new opening combo again.
