RCB vs SRH: IPL 2021, after a grand start, has set the ball rolling again with its 6th match of the season to be played on Wednesday. Royal Challengers Bangalore takes on Sunrisers Hyderabad in MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. Both the teams have already played a match earlier in this campaign; with the boys from Bangalore came through Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad went down cheaply against Kolkata Knight Riders.
The RCB vs SRH game will be played in a neutral venue, thus denying any of the teams with any home advantage. As far as the table stands, DC sits on the top spot. A win for SRH will see them climb above Royal Challengers Bangalore on Wednesday.
Match Preview
MA Chidambaram Stadium, commonly known as Chepauk, is always a batting paradise. Due to its dry and hard nature, the ball comes on pretty smoothly and the shorter boundaries ensure that we witness a lot of boundaries. The pitch cracks with time as the match goes on, but it will take a lot from the spinners from both teams to make the ball turn and trouble the batsmen. In short, we are certain to witness another high-scoring match as the pitch is more batting-friendly and thus a very high-intensity one.
Royal Challengers Bangalore Team News
After putting up a decent performance to see off Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore will look to start with an unchanged eleven for this match as well. Devdutt Paddikal, after missing the first game through Covid, is now fit to play in this match. He is in red hot form in the domestic season this year and will look to continue his form in IPL as well. In case the management decides not to risk Paddikal; RCB will stick to their opening pair of Kohli and Washington Sundar.
Kohli and AB de Villiers will be the key man for them as always. Glenn Maxwell looked good in the first game and will look forward to taking it forward from there. RCB’s batting remains the concern as it is devoid of any depth and is hugely dependent on Kohli, de Villiers, and Maxwell.
However, their bowling unit looked much improved, as they displayed a very controlled and economical performance against Mumbai Indians. Harshal Patel was the pick of the bowlers bagging 5 wickets. They would certainly want to take that form ahead.
Predicted Eleven– Washington Sundar, AB de Villiers (WK)(Overseas), Devdutt Padikkal, Kyle Jamieson(Overseas), Daniel Christian(Overseas), Virat Kohli (C), Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, Harshal Patel, Shahbaz Ahmed, Glenn Maxwell(Overseas).
Sunrisers Hyderabad Team News
Hyderabad lost their first game of the season to the Knight Riders by a deficit of ten runs. Even though the margin of loss might seem very less, Hyderabad failed to look as dangerous as they are. Their intensity in both the bowling and batting fronts went missing after they conceded such a mammoth target. They experimented with their opening order by starting Wriddhiman Saha with David Warner instead of Jhonny Bairstow.
The reliable Australian hard hitter who has been a potent opener all throughout the IPL walked back to the pavilion after an early dismissal by Prasidh Krishna. Jhonny Bairstow and Manish Pandey were the ones who made the most out of the balls they faced and for a moment the match turned in favor of Sunrisers. Their decision to invite Kolkata Knight Riders to bat first in such a dry batting pitch was the vital mistake that cost them the match.
The left-arm chinaman from Afghanistan was once again sensational. With a decent economy rate and two wickets in hand, Rashid Khan once again proved why his position in the team is cemented. Although he could not have the chance to contribute with the bat; he played a decent inning and the younger bowlers will draw their bit of inspiration from him.
Predicted Eleven– Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan(Overseas), Abdul Samad; Manish Pandey, Jonny Bairstow(Overseas), Vijay Shankar, Sandeep Sharma David Warner (C)(Overseas), Mohammad Nabi(Overseas), T Natarajan.
RCB vs SRH – Key Stats
This interesting fixture has always been a close encounter. With less than 20 matches played between the two sides; Sunrisers lead the score by 10 matches and Bangalore lags behind with 7 wins. Every time these two sides have played against each other big scores have been a regular thing. In IPL 2016 Virat Kohli and De Villiers handed Hyderabad a hefty total of 227. In 2019, the Sunriser’s opening partnership between Warner and Bairstow reached the three-figure mark and gave the fans a tremendous inning.
Conclusion
A huge number of stalwarts of the game have blessed this fixture with runs and stadium erupting innings, Wednesday will be no different.
