After 56 league matches, two qualifiers, and an eliminator, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will face off against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the much-awaited finale of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday. These two teams are the deserving finalists, simply because they are the best batting and bowling sides of the tournament respectively. RCB’s batting is unmatched with the presence of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Shane Watson, and KL Rahul in the top five. As for SRH, even in the absence of Ashish Nehra and Mustafizur Rahman they still manage to look threatening. Full Cricket Scorecard: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, IPL 2016 Final
RCB went through a lot of shuffling and changing in the early part of the tournament. With Chris Gayle being in indifferent form and briefly leaving for the birth of his child, the opening combination faced a lot of experimentation. Watson and Rahul were both tried as openers and while the latter was successful the return of Gayle pushed him back down to No. 5, where he has continued to do well.
However, even while the RCB batting juggernaut kept steaming on, their bowling was the reason for a number of their losses. The true turnaround for RCB came when Yuzvendra Chahal and Watson started taking wickets. With Sreenath Aravind and Chris Jordan performing commendably also, the RCB bowling attack, which was by far their weakest link, has now started winning them matches. In fact, both Chahal and Watson are in the running for winning the Purple Cap as well.
The story has been similar for SRH as well, but in reverse. It was with the combined forces of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nehra, Mustafizur, and the rest that SRH kept restricting their opposition to mediocre totals. David Warner was their sole saviour with the bat, and his dismissal often spelled doom for SRH. With Shikhar Dhawan and Yuvraj Singh regaining form and fitness, the SRH batting now looks like a more formidable unit.
RCB and SRH have won one match each against the other this season. The first match they played, which was the first match of the tournament for both teams, saw RCB batting first and scoring a humongous 227 for 4. Kohli scored 75 off 51 balls with 7 fours and 3 sixes, while de Villiers smashed 82 off 42 with 7 fours and 6 sixes. But the finishing touches were put on by Sarfaraz Khan, who scored a 10-ball 35 not out with 5 fours and 2 sixes. David Warner then scored 58 off 25 balls with 4 fours and 5 sixes, but once he was dismissed SRH crumbled to a 45-run defeat.
The next time the two sides faced off was at SRH’s home ground. Warner was again the protagonist with 92 off 50 balls, while Kane Williamson scored 50 and Moises Henriques made 31. SRH scored 194 for 5. For once Kohli failed to get going, and was dismissed for 14. But Rahul and de Villiers scored 51 and 47 respectively to keep RCB alive. Once they were dismissed the RCB batting ran out of steam and eventually lost by 15 runs.
The final is being held at Bengaluru, which apart from being RCB’s fortress is also a ground best suited to their team. In Rahul, Aravind, and Stuart Binny RCB have three Karnataka cricketers who know what to expect from the pitch. Kohli, Gayle, and de Villiers have played for RCB for years, so they too are virtually hometown heroes. The deck is stacked in favour of RCB, but SRH and Warner are worthy adversaries. Expect a run-fest at Chinnaswamy!
Squads:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Chris Jordan, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harshal Patel, Shane Watson, Stuart Binny, Kane Richardson, Travis Head, Praveen Dubey, Vikramjeet Malik, Akshay Karnewar, Iqbal Abdulla, Sachin Baby, Vikas Tokas, Abu Nechim, David Wiese, Kedar Jadhav, Sreenath Aravind.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (c), Ashish Reddy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Bipul Sharma, Karn Sharma, Naman Ojha (wk), Ricky Bhui, Shikhar Dhawan, Siddharth Kaul, Moises Henriques, Eoin Morgan, Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, Yuvraj Singh, Ashish Nehra, Deepak Hooda, Mustafizur Rahman, Aditya Tare, Barinder Singh Sran, Ben Cutting, Vijay Shankar, Abhimanyu Mithun, Tirumalsetti Suman.
Time: 20:00 IST | 14:30 GMT
(Shiamak Unwalla, a reporter with CricketCountry, is an animal lover and comic, film and TV geek. A fast bowler at heart, he enjoys watching a good, low-scoring game of cricket. His Twitter handle is @ShiamakUnwalla)
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