Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL 2015 Match 52 Preview: Dominant SRH look to go past stumbling RCB

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will host Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Match 52 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015 at Hyderabad on Friday. SRH have been on a major upswing in recent times, having built up a lot of momentum. RCB, on the other hand, will be looking to overcome their defeat at the hands of table-tailers Kings XI Punjab (KXIP). IPL 2015: RR will back MI to defeat KKR, says Rahul Dravid

SRH have been led well by David Warner, who currently sits comfortably at the top of the run charts. The Australian opener has been in savage form so far in IPL 2015, having scored 504 runs with six half-centuries. He will have to face up against Mitchell Starc, though. The battle between the two Australians will definitely be one worth watching. Rejuvenated Sunrisers Hyderabad face Royal Challengers Bangalore in crucial encounter

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One worrying aspect of SRH’s batting line-up is that it starts and ends with the two openers. Moises Henriques and Eoin Morgan have got a couple of decent innings under their belts, but they have lacked consistency. Shikhar Dhawan has been steady at the top, but he will feel that he has not pulled his weight.

Meanwhile, Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, and AB de Villiers have had the luxury of batting up the order because of a middle order that has done its bit. Mandeep Singh in particular has looked good every time he has got in, but a bit more consistency will go a long way. Dinesh Karthik has been their one huge disappointment. The wicketkeeper batsman has not put his vast experience to use, and is yet to go past 30 in the tournament. Sunrisers Hyderabad need to keep the momentum going, feels Muttiah Muralitharan

Sarfaraz Khan has looked good, but still has a long way to go before being considered a threat. He has played one good innings, but is perhaps a tad too enamoured by de Villiers’ strokeplay, and tries to emulate him more often than advisable.

On the bowling front, Starc adds the venom RCB have been lacking for so long, but the revelation has been Harshal Patel. The pacer has bowled particularly well, often picking up valuable wickets against the run of play. David Wiese and Yuzvendra Chahal have done their bit as well, though the fifth bowler has been a cause for concern. Sreenath Aravind, Varun Aaron, and Abu Nechim have all gone for runs, though Aravind has perhaps been the most consistent of the three.

With Trent Boult and Kane Williamson departing for national duty, Dale Steyn has a chance of making it back to the SRH playing XI. He has been lacklustre this year, and he will want to end on a high note.

On paper, the match is too close to call. Both teams have an equal chance of winning going into the game, though if Warner is out early RCB’s chances will increase manifold. It could come down to a battle between SRH’s bowlers and RCB’s batsmen. If any one of RCB’s top three get going, it will be tough for SRH.

Squads:

Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Dale Steyn, Karn Sharma, KL Rahul, Ishant Sharma, Trent Boult, Kane Williamson, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Naman Ojha, Praveen Kumar, Siddharth Kaul, Ashish Reddy, Parvez Rasool, Moises Henriques, Ravi Bopara, Ricky Bhui, Chama Milind, Eoin Morgan, Prasanth Padmanabhan, Bipul Sharma, Hanuma Vihari.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (c), Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Darren Sammy, Mitchell Starc, Dinesh Karthik, Subramanium Badrinath, Sean Abbott, Adam Milne, Nic Maddinson, Ashok Dinda, Manvinder Bisla, Varun Aaron, Vijay Zol, Sarfaraz Khan, Jalaj Saxena, Shishir Bhavane, Iqbal Abdullah, David Wiese, Rilee Rossouw, Abu Nechim, Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sandeep Warrier, Yogesh Takawale, Jalaj Saxena.

Time: 20:00 IST | 14:30 GMT

(Shiamak Unwalla, a reporter with CricketCountry, is a self-confessed Sci-Fi geek and Cricket fanatic. His Twitter handle is @ShiamakUnwalla)