IPL 10, Match 1, SRH v RCB Preview: Injury hit RCB on shaky ground against defending champions Sunrisers

The two sides had last met in the IPL 2016 finals where SRH had beaten RCB by 8 runs to lift the coveted silverware.

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Yuvraj Singh Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL 9
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Sunrisers Hyderabad. (Photo Source: BCCI)

The stage is all set for yet another exciting edition of the Indian Premier League. IPL 10 promises to be bigger and better than the previous editions. The tournament kicks off in a fitting manner with the two top sides of the last season, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), lock horns in the season opener at Hyderabad.

When these two sides had met in the finals of IPL 2016, it was run fest at display where the men in orange outplayed the ones in red by a narrow 8-run margin. The RCB camp will definitely be looking to take revenge of the final defeat but have found themselves on a shaky ground ahead of the tournament starter. They have been plagued by injuries and will be led by Shane Watson in absence of regular skipper Virat Kohli.

On the other hand, the Sunrisers Hyderabad camp look like a very settled unit. They, however, have a problem of their own. They have the much more desired problem though – the problem of excess. They have a large pool of overseas players to pick from and it will be interesting to see how they go about their combination for the first match. In essence, the match will be between the injury-hit RCB batting against the super fit SRH bowling.

Focus will be on:

Tymal Mills (Royal Challengers Bangalore)

The young T20 specialist bowler from England has already made an impact in the international cricket scene with his pace bowling. The 24 year old quickie has already given up on the longer formats because of a congenital back problem. Now, he focuses only on the shortest format and that has made him a specialist of his trade. He is capable of clocking speeds close to 150kmph on a regular basis but his self admitted wicket taking delivery is his deceptive slower ball. He has already had his taste of T20 leagues and has played in the BPL, PSL and the BBL this year. He was the second most expensive player at the player auctions this year.

Rashid Khan (Sunrisers Hyderabad)

The young Afghanistan leggie Rashid Khan is a new addition to the Sunrisers Hyderabad side. Whether the youngster gets a chance or not, is yet to be seen. However, considering the slowness of the wicket at Hyderabad, it is very likely that Rashid Khan will get a game. His recent form has been prolific. In the recently concluded 3 match T20I series against Ireland, Rashid scalped 9 wickets with a best of 5/3 and that certainly speaks volumes about his talent. In the ODIs too, he scalped 6/43 in a fixture to continue his good run of form.

Yuvraj Singh (Sunrisers Hyderabad)

No matter which format of the game he plays or which team he turns up for, Yuvraj Singh manages to be in the limelight. The veteran southpaw recently recovered from his injury and made a stunning comeback to the national side in the ODIs with a maiden 150. His run in the T20Is against England earlier this year saw him play a few cameos too. The fact that he is striking the ball brilliantly is helping him carve out the same shots that a vintage Yuvraj Singh fan desires of. Albeit he has not been in action in the recent past, with his most recent appearance being for Punjab against Odisha in the Vijay Hazare Trophy almost a month ago, Yuvraj has managed to stay match fit for the tournament starter.

Toss: RCB have won the toss and have opted to field

Quotes from the toss:

Warner: We are happy to bat first. We have prepared together as an unit. Can’t wait to go out there and start playing. Rashid Khan is making his SRH debut.

Watson: We will bowl first. We have had a week of practice, we are pretty excited. We have had a couple of injuries. Tymal Mills and Aniket Choudhary are making their debuts for RCB.

Playing XI:

Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner(c), Shikhar Dhawan, Moises Henriques, Yuvraj Singh, Deepak Hooda, Naman Ojha(w), Ben Cutting, Bipul Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, Ashish Nehra

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Chris Gayle, Mandeep Singh, Shane Watson(c), Kedar Jadhav(w), Travis Head, Sachin Baby, Stuart Binny, Tymal Mills, Sreenath Aravind, Aniket Choudhary, Yuzvendra Chahal

Royal Challengers Bangalore – Team Combination

The RCB camp have been hit hard by the series of injuries. Opener batsman KL Rahul was ruled out of the tournament last week. In a more recent advancement, middle-order batsman Sarfraz Khan was ruled out of the entire season as he succumbed to a leg injury during the final practice session at Bengaluru. Virat Kohli is sidelined for the first week of the tournament and even AB de Villiers confirmed his unavailability for the fixture against SRH.

Shane Watson will have a task in hand as the leader of the side. Having won only 11 out of the 31 matches he has played as a captain in T20 cricket, Watson will be hoping to improve on the numbers. The bowling department will be spearheaded by Tymal Mills, who has the big shoes of Mitchell Starc to fill. Chris Gayle will be the third overseas player in the line up as Watson is likely to be promoted at the opener slot.

The fourth slot will be closely contested between Travis Head and Tabraiz Shamsi. Considering the track at Hyderabad, Shamsi has a better chance of making the cut. Having said that, the wicket keeping services of Head could strengthen his claims.

Sunrisers Hyderabad – Team Combination

Sunrisers Hyderabad will have a tough time picking their four overseas players. Skipper David Warner will miss the services of Mustafizur Rahman, who is yet to join the SRH camp. Warner might well go in with his tested all-rounder in the form of either Ben Cutting or Moises Henriques. The task that lies ahead would be to see if he can sneak in a slot for Afghanistan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi.

Nabi has been in a decent form in the recent times and could be a value addition. On the other hand, there is Rashid Khan, the other Afghan player, who is almost likely to be drafted straight in the playing eleven. The bowling definitely looks strong on paper with Indian duo of Ashish Nehra and Bhuvneshwar Kumar taking charge of the new ball.

Fit again Barinder Sran is also available for selection and might play in the absence of third seamer that is usually served by Mustafizur. This happens only in case the management do not play an overseas replacement for him in form of English bowler Chris Jordan. The problem of plenty persists and it will be worth watching the combinations they putforth for the important encounter.

StatAttack

4 – Four of the top five leading wicket takers of IPL 2016 belonged to these two teams (Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mustafizur Rahman, Shane Watson, Yuzvendra Chahal).

1660 – The total number of runs scored by Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers for the RCB in the IPL 2016 as against David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan’s cumulative total of 1349 runs.

251 – Number of sixes hit by Chris Gayle in the IPL history – the most by any batsman. Next in the list is Rohit Sharma with 163 sixes to his name.

9 – Number of times these two sides have met in the IPL. RCB has won four matches, while SRH have come up as winners on 5 occasions.

 

 

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