Hyderabad: Their winning momentum punctured after a loss to Rising Pune Supergiants, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) would look to get back to their winning ways when they take on a struggling Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match here on Saturday.
RCB won in the previous meeting between the two sides but much water has flowed under the bridge since then with the Sunrisers demonstrating great improvement.
Sunrisers have a decent six points from an equal number of matches, having won and lost three games each. Though they lost to Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders in their first two matches, Sunrisers went on to win their next three matches against Mumbai Indians, Gujarat Lions and Kings XI Punjab.
However, the victory march of the Hyderabad side came to a halt when Pune defeated them by a comprehensive 34 runs via Duckworth Lewis method in a rain-affected match when the two met here on April 26.
The strong batting line-up of SRH, except for opener Shikhar Dhawan, came crashing down as the team was dismissed for a poor 118 for the loss of eight wickets.
Starting from captain David Warner, who was out for a duck, the other batsmen, including Aditya Tare, Eoin Morgan, Deepak Hooda and Moises Henrqiues, got out poorly and it was bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar who made the score decent with his 21 in eight balls.
Famed Sunrisers’ bowler Ashish Nehra, who returned to the side after recovering from an injury, had said it was one of those bad games that can happen to any team and that to learn from the mistakes is the way forward.
Thankfully for SRH, it has in its ranks players of high stature, including Kane Williamson and Trent Boult, who have not played for the team so far in the tournament.
The team has the option of considering inclusion of Williamson, who has just been named captain of New Zealand Test team, and Trent Boult to reinforce its strength.
Come Saturday, it goes without saying that the famed batsmen of SRH are expected to come out with all guns blazing.
The home side has a potent bowling attack in Nehra, Bhuvneshwar, Mustafizur Rahman, Bipul Sharma and allrounder Moises Henriques.
On the other hand, RCB are struggling to find momentum with just four points from five matches. The Bangalore side has won two and lost three matches so far.
Though RCB’s batting strength is depleted following the exit of Chris Gayle, its captain Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers are in great form and the team’s batting relies heavily on the duo.
Shane Watson has also been in good form with both bat and ball, while young Sarfaraz Khan rose to the occasion a couple of times.
But RCB’s main worry is their bowling, which hasn’t fare well at all. The RCB bowlers, including Yuzwendra Chahal, Kane Richardson, Iqbal Abdulla and Watson, are expected to come up with a strong show against Hyderabad.
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