RCB v SRH: IPL MATCH 36 PREVIEW

The Royal Challengers Bangalore take on the Sunrisers Hyderabad in match no 36 at the Brabourne Stadium.

RCB's biggest concern is its top order and scoring rate in Powerplay. Anuj Rawat has scored 77 runs at a SR of 95, His partner Faf du plessis fares even worse with 76 runs at a SR of 82.6. Virat Kohli strikes at 108 having scored 25 runs. RCB have the 2nd worst scoring rate in the powerplay with 6.8 after SRH who score at 6.1. Another department where RCB have fared poorly is the the death bowling. Before the game against Lucknow, they had picked up only 5 wkts (least) and conceded runs at 13.2 (second worst). Dinesh Karthik, Shahbaz Ahmed in the batting department have been the only bright spots so far. DK is averaging in 210 and his SR is over 200. He has been having a phenomenal season and has looked in zen mode right from ball 1. RCB should promote Kohli at the top and slot Mahipal Lomror at 3. Since 2018, Kohli has performed poorly against SRH with 135 runs at a SR of 114.

SRH has had an edge over RCB in crucial games, esp more in the last few seasons. Add to that Kane Williamson has 3 MoM awards against RCB in last 8 matches. Just like RCB, SRH are the worst performers in PP with a scoring rate of 6.1. Kane Williamson has been a major let down and hasn't contributed at all apart from a 50 against GT. SRH are the best bowling init in death overs. They have taken 20 wkts which is most by any side. T Natarajan and Umran Malik are the chief enforcers in the bowling dept who have 11 & 9 wkts respectively in the season so far. . SRH will only get better with addition of Sundar who is out with an injury and is expected to get fit soon.

Probable XI

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Maxwell, Dinesh Karthik(wk), Suyash Prabhudesai, Shahbaz Ahmed, Wanindu Hasaranga, Josh Hazlewood, Harshal Patel, Mohammad Siraj

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Kane Williamson (c), Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Nicholas Pooran, Aiden Markram, Shashank Singh, Abdul Samad/Jagdish Suchith, Marco Jansen, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Umran Malik, T Natarajan

Venue

Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai

Record at Brabourne

SRH: Played 2, Won 2, Lost 0
RCB: Played 0, Won 0, Lost 0

19 IPL games have been played at Brabourne.
Teams batting 1st have won 10/19 games.

Average Total batting 1st: 183.1
Average 1st innings winning total: 197.3
Average 1st innings total in 2022: 186.3

Highest total: 217/5 by RR vs KKR in 2022

Head to Head

Overall: SRH lead by 11-8
Batting 1st: SRH lead by 6-4
Batting 2nd: SRH lead by 5-4
Last 5 games: SRH lead by 3-2

Match Ups

Kohli v Bhuvi: 75/3 at 121 SR
DK v Bhuvi: 74/1 at 129 SR
Faf v Bhuvi: 53/1 at 123 SR
Maxwell v Bhuvi: 24/2 at 96 SR
Maxwell v Suchith: 9/2 at 180 SR
DK v Natarajan: 34/0 at 170 SR
Tripathi v Siraj: 41/2 at 110 SR

Form Update
(last 5 innings)

Key Players & Fanatsy Picks

Captain

Faf du Plessis / Glenn Maxwell: Faf had an amazing 2021 where he scored 633 runs. He started well in 2022 with an 88 but since then failed to put big scores under him. He was the top scorer for RCB in last game and narrowley missed out on his 100. Maxwell has scored 625 runs at a SR of 150+ since last season. He scored a quick half century vs DC inspite of RCB losing 3 wkts early.

Josh Hazlewood: RCB suffered massively in the initail games with their 4th pacer Akash deep going for plenty in every game and Siraj who was supposed to be the leader of the attack failed to make any mark in almost every game. Hazlewood's arrival has boosted their bowling department to a great extent. He has 8 wkts from 3 games, just behind Hasaranga.

Rahul Tripathi: Tripathi burst onto the scene in 2017 while opening for Rising Pune Supergiant. He racked up 391 runs at an impressive strike rate of 146. He had a a couple of off seasons with RR but was back at his best in KKR. Donning a new role, Tripathi batted in middle order and amassed 397 runs at a SR of 140. No wonder he fetched 8.5 crores in the auctions as he possesses the unique ability to attack from ball one.He was the top scorer in the 2nd game with a 30 ball 44 and hit a 15 ball 39 against Chennai, followed it up with a 37 ball 71 while chasing against KKR, a 22 ball 34 vs PBKS in the last game. Tripathi has the 5th best SR (150.1) since 2021 for batters with minimum of 450 runs

Aiden Markram: In the past one year, Markram has scored 570 runs for SA at a SR of 148. He had a very good outing in t20 wc and was featured in ICC's team of the tournament. Markram is also a useful part time off spinner and does the job well in Powerplay. He was the top scorer for SRH in the 1st game and scored a 50, registered his 2nd one in the game against KKR. and remained not out on 41 against PBKS.

Budget picks

Shahbaz Ahmed: He has been RCB's saviour with the bat. 171 runs at an avg of 42 and SR of 147 speaks volumes about his contributions lower down the order. RCB were 62/4 in 3 games, 42/3, 75/4 when he has walked out to bat.

Prediction: SRH will manage to beat RCB if their bowling 2nd.

Fanatsy XI