RCB faces GT, hopes to continue the turnaround story
Afortnight ago, Chennai Super Kings’s campaign was on course after it defeated Mumbai Indians convincingly and had four wins out of six. However, defeats in its last two matches have meant the defending champion has been pushed into a corner where it can ill-aord further missteps. It is in this situation Ruturaj Gaikwad’s men take on a destructive Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday.
Though CSK has the best record at home, it will be the team facing the heat.
Despite scoring 210 against Lucknow Super Giants in the previous game, the Super Kings failed to defend the target, as the medium-pacers struggled in dewy conditions.
SRH, just like CSK, lost its previous encounter — against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Rare o -day
Though the famed top-order had a rare o-day, the Men in Orange have enough repower to pose a serious threat against a misring bowling attack of Super Kings.
After the loss to LSG, CSK coach Stephen Fleming
said that the pitch at Chepauk had not played to his side’s strength of spin and wished for a surface
that gripped and oered turn. So all eyes will be on the pitch and whether the home side can get a strip similar to the one used in the game against Kolkata Knight Riders.
A slow track could hold the key to stopping Sunrisers’ belligerent batting line-up, which has posted three totals over 250.
The game against RCB showed a potential chink in the armour of the SRH batters when three of the four fell to the slower bowlers, and it is something the hosts will want to exploit.
RCB batting this season had been mostly about Kohli.
After ending what seemed an unending series of defeats at Hyderabad a couple of days ago, Royal Challengers Bengaluru must be hoping its turnaround story continues in Sunday’s sweltering heat. It is up against a home side that should want to put behind it the four-run loss to Delhi Capitals in its last match.
Despite that defeat at New Delhi, Gujarat Titans is still in the race for a place in the IPL playos, with eight points from nine games. RCB has just four points from as many games and is placed right at the bottom of the pile.
Against Sunrisers Hyderabad, however, RCB had one of its more gratifying days with the bat, as the middle-order clicked, with Rajat Patidar and Cameron
Green scoring 50 and 37 not out respectively o the 20 balls they each faced. The RCB batting this season had been mostly about opener Virat Kohli (430 runs).
The bowling attack, featuring the likes of Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal, Swapnil Singh, and Karn Sharma had done well to subdue SRH’s powerful batting line-up. They should be particularly wary of captain Shubman Gill, who loves to bat at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
Gill and B. Sai Sudharshan have been doing the bulk of scoring for GT. Some runs from the middle order should help.
In Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, and R. Sai Kishore, GT boasts ne spinners. Seamer Sandeep Warrier was impressive in the last match. However, the death bowling let the team down.