For the first time in Indian Premier League (IPL) sixth season, two teams - Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) - which won their first matches, are pitted against each other. They will play their second match at Rajiv Gandhi Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad on Sunday.
Overview:
Having won their first matches of the ongoing IPL, both the teams will be looking forward to continue the early momentum.
Royal Challengers Bangalore won their first match, beating the Mumbai Indians by two runs, while Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Pune Warriors India by defending their low total.
It will be their first meeting in the IPL. However, the Hyderabad franchise Deccan Charges, which was renamed Sunrisers Hyderabad after Sun TV Network took over from Deccan Chronicle, have a 6-5 win-loss record over the Royal Challengers Bangalore in their previous meetings.
Team News:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: The team defeated Pune Warriors India in the first match but the performance of their top order was far from satisfactory. Their batsmen like Kumar Sangakkara, Akshath Reddy and Cameron White need to pull up their socks and put up good a good total on Sunday.
Dale Steyn and Amit Mishra took three wickets each, while Thisara Perera took two and Ashish Reddy one in their season opener. They should take early wickets on Sunday and push the batsmen of their opponent to the back foot. Ishant Sharma can be dangerous too.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Chris Gayle's performance in the first match against Mumbai Indians was spectacular, scoring 92 runs from 58 balls but the contribution from other teammates was negligible, which is a cause of worry for the team. Other batsmen like Tillakaratne Dilshan, Virat Kohli, Mayank Agarwal, Daniel Christian and Karun Nair need to chip on Sunday, as the Sunrisers Hyderabad have a good bowling line-up.
In the bowling department, RCB have Vinay Kumar, Jaidev Unadkat, Murali Kartik, Muttiah Muralitharan, and Daniel Christian. Vinay Kumar took three wickets in the team's season opener.
Prediction:
Sunrisers Hyderabad have home ground advantage but Royal Challengers Bangalore look stronger. RCB is the favourite to win Sunday's match.
SQUADS
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kumar Sangakkara (C), Akshath Reddy, Amit Mishra, Anand Rajan, Ankit Sharma, Ashish Reddy, Biplap Samantray, Cameron White, Chris Lynn, Dale Steyn, Darren Sammy, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Hanuma Vihari, Ishant Sharma, Karan Sharma, Nathan McCullum, Parthiv Patel, Prasanth Padmanabhan, Quinton de Kock, Sachin Rana, Shikhar Dhawan, Sudeep Tyagi, Thalaivan Sargunam, Thisara Perera, Veer Pratap Singh
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (captain), AB De Villiers, Abhimanyu Mithun, Abhinav Mukund, Andrew McDonald, Arun Karthik, Cheteshwar Pujara, Chris Gayle, Christopher Barnwell, Daniel Christian, Daniel Vettori, Harshal Patel, Jaidev Unadkat, K P Appanna, Karun Nair, Mayank Agarwal, Moises Henriques, Murali Kartik, Muttiah Muralitharan, Pankaj Singh, Prasanth Parameswaran, R Vinay Kumar, Ravi Rampaul, Rudra Pratap Singh, S Aravind, Sandeep Warrier, Saurabh Tiwary, Sheldon Jackson, Sunny Sohal, Syed Mohammad, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Vijay Zol, Zaheer Khan
Where to Watch Live
The match will begin at 8:00 pm IST and will be telecast live on Sony Set Max channel.
