Royal Challengers Bangalore after a five day break will hit the ground once again, as they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League on Wednesday. Both teams have contrasting start to their campaign with a win and a loss in their kitty. The Virat Kohli-led side pipped MI by two wickets in a last-ball thriller. They saw some exceptional performances in Harshal Patel's five-wicket haul, first-ever against the Mumbai franchise, and a late blitz by veteran wicketkeeper-batsman AB de Villiers. De Villiers smashed 48 off just 27 balls to take the Bangalore outfit to the cusp of victory.
As far as SRH are concerned, both their openers Wriddhiman Saha and Warner failed to get going against KKR in the first game and will look to make up for that against RCB. Kane Williamson is unlikely to return on Wednesday as coach Trevor Bayliss had said the Kiwi would require some more time to regain full match fitness. The swashbuckling Warner has close to 600 runs against RCB and he will aim to add to that impressive tally. RCB are most likely to bring in their preferred opener Devdutt Padikkal. The Karnataka batsman tested positive ahead of IPL 2021 and missed the first game due to quarantine protocols. The stylish left-hander, who smashed 473 runs in IPL 2020, has now recovered and is ready to go, which means Rajat Patidar will have to make way. Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore will look to consolidate their position after a winning start. On the other hand, Hyderabad will be eager to get their first points on the board.
Probable XI:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (C), Manish Pandey, Wriddhiman Saha, Jonny Bairstow, Abdul Samad, Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Sandeep Sharma
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (C), AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal, Glenn Maxwell, Daniel Christian, Washington Sundar, Kyle Jamieson, Harshal Patel, Mohammad Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shahbaz Ahmad
