SRH will look for a bit of revenge when they host RCB at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Saturday. The Sunrisers Hyderabad went down to the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the reverse IPL 2016 fixture in Bengaluru, when Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers made merry with the bat.
The Sunrisers did not have such a great time with the willow in their last IPL outing, crumbling a little too easily after Warner fell in the first over against RPS. It is that soft underbelly that SRH need to sort out, if they are to mount a serious challenge in IPL 2016.
Their bowling, led by Mustafizur Rahman, Ashish Nehra and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, is quite good while their batting is outstanding, as long as Warner fires. But when Warner fails to make his presence felt with the bat, the Sunrisers batting suffers considerably.
There are no such problems for RCB, who have won two of their five matches in IPL 2016, because of their ample backup. If Chris Gayle, who should come back in to the playing XI after a three-match absence, fails, there is Kohli, and if the captain does not manage to score runs, there is AB De Villiers. With Shane Watson also coming in for this season, the batting lineup looks quite sorted, with RCB's problems lying within the bowling.
Too many times this season, the batsmen have done their bits with the bat, only to see the opposition gun down big targets, and that too with considerable ease.
"It is not the kind of position that we would have wanted to be after five games," RCB bowling coach Allan Donald told reporters. "We have batted really well in the competition so far and there is no doubt that we slipped up with the ball.
"It is something that we are continuously working on at the moment. We have fired with the bat and Virat Kohli has been exemplary in that and led from the front, but we have made some crucial errors with the ball. We are hopeful that we put that right in this game (against SRH)."
RCB went berserk with the bat in the previous fixture between the two teams, scoring 227 runs in the first innings, a score that even their bowlers could defend. But, in Hyderabad, if their bowlers fail to step up to the occasion again, it could end up being a fourth defeat of the season for one of the pre-tournament favourites.
Where to Watch Live
SRH vs RCB is set to begin at 8 p.m. IST (3.30 p.m. BST, 10.30 a.m. ET).
India: TV: Sony Six,Sony Six HD, Sony ESPN, Sony ESPN HD and Sony Max. Live Streaming: Hotstar and Starsports.com.
USA: TV: ESPN. Live streaming: Watch ESPN.
Canada: TV: Sportsnet. Live Streaming: Watch Sportsnet.
UK and Ireland: TV: Sky Sports 2. Live Streaming: Watch Sky Sports and Sky Go.
Middle East and North Africa: TV: OSN Sports Cricket. Live Streaming: OSN Cricket Play.
South Africa and Sub Saharan Africa: TV: Supersport. Live Streaming: Supersport Live Video.
International (ROW): Cricketgateway.
