The 'IPL 2020 Eliminator' between SRH and RCB will commence at 7:30 pm (IST) with the toss slated to take place at 7:00 pm (IST)
While SRH booked the third play-off spot in IPL 2020 after handing a 10-wicket defeat to Mumbai Indians in a must-win encounter, RCB sneaked into the play-offs despite losing their last league assignment to Delhi Capitals.
RCB have problems a plenty to fix ahead of their knockout clash against SRH. Their top order batsmen have been a bit below par at the back end of the tournament and will need to lead from the front against a well oiled bowling attack of the 'Orange Army'.
RCB will hope for contributions from their star batsmen Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers, both of whom have looked lackluster in the last few games. It will have to be seen who among Josh Philippe or Aaron Finch opens the batting with the in-form young opener Devdutt Padikkal who has lead the run scoring charts with 472 runs in 14 matches.
Hard hitting batsmen Chris Morris and Shivam Dube will have to provide the late impetus down the order so that RCB can post a big total if they happen to bat first.
The seam bowling fortunes for RCB could be bolstered by the return of seamer Navdeep Saini who was ruled out of the last game against Delhi Capitals due to a split webbing. Saini, Morris and one of Mohammed Siraj or Isuru Udana will need to strike early with the new ball to make inroads into in-form SRH top-order.
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RCB will once again hope that their spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar can cast a web around the SRH batsmen and control the game in the middle stage of the match.
Warner-led SRH will surely start as favourites against RCB, heading into the knockout encounter on the back of three straight wins in their final league games. However, there should not be even one bit of complacency from the Warner-led team as SRH's play-off sealing win against Mumbai Indians came with MI resting three key players in Jasrpit Bumrah, Trent Boult and Hardik Pandya.
SRH's late resurgence which helped them qualify for the play-offs largely comes on the back of the opening salvo provided by their opening pair of David Warner and Wriddhiman Saha in their do-or-die league encounters.
Manish Pandey and Kane Williamson have held the middle order in good stead and Jason Holder has been providing the cameos down the order to finish the innings with a flurry of boundaries.
SRH fast bowling responsibilities will be once again burdened by Sandeep Sharma, Jason Holder, K Khaleel Ahmed and T Natarajan. While Sandeep Sharma has been phenomenal with his early breakthroughs in the powerplays, Jason Holder and T Natarajan have been good at controlling the run flow in the middle and death overs.
Afghanistan leg spinner Rashid Khan will once again be the trump card for Warner in his bowling arsenal. Rashid has been in rich wicket taking form all through the season.
Of the 17 matches played between these two teams in the IPL, SRH have come out victorious in nine games while RCB have won seven encounters.
Here are the full squads for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (captain), AB de Villiers (wicketkeeper), Parthiv Patel (wicketkeeper), Aaron Finch, Josh Philippe (wicketkeeper), Chris Morris, Moeen Ali, Mohammed Siraj, Shahbaz Ahmed, Devdutt Padikkal, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini, Dale Steyn, Pawan Negi, Isuru Udana, Shivam Dube, Umesh Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Washington Sundar, Pavan Deshpande, Adam Zampa
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson, David Warner (Captain), Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Manish Pandey, Mohammad Nabi, Priyam Garg, Wriddhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), Virat Singh, Basil Thampi, Abhishek Sharma, Billy Stanlake, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shreevats Goswami, Siddarth Kaul, K Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan, Bavanaka Sandeep, Fabian Allen, Abdul Samad, Sanjay Yadav, Rashid Khan