In the 51st match of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL 2018), a win for Royal Challengers Banglore will make the race for playoffs even more interesting.
In the 51st match of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL 2018), resurgent Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will take on already-qualified table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad in today's match with their playoffs chances hanging by a slim thread. Captian Virat Kohli has led the team from the front and that resulted in two victories for RCB. After defeating Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab in back to back matches, RCB seems like a rejuvenated unit, while SRH have been the team to beat this season, having won nine matches out of 12. RCB are still struggling at the second last position on the table, while SRH are on top of the VIVO IPL points table with 18 points.
Virat Kohli's RCB has survived the tough season, having lost seven of its 12 matches so far but the recent turnaround has given brith hopes of a possible shot at the playoffs berth provided some other results go RCB's way. RCB is overtly dependant on Virat and South African star performer A B De Villiers. Both of them combined have scored nearly half of RCB's total runs this season but the side needs bigger contributions from the likes of Moeen Ali and Corey Anderson.
SRH, on the other hand, depend quite a lot on opener Shikhar Dhawan (369 runs) and skipper Kane Williamson (544 runs) for inspiration. Williamson has been an exemplary leader, who would look to consolidate the team's top spot and ensure a top-two finish at the end of the round-robin stage. Apart from Dhawan and Williamson, Yusuf Pathan (186), Manish Pandey (189) and Shakib-Al-Hasan (166) have also chipped in at crunch situations for SRH. But what has been truly outstanding for SRH is their diverse bowling attack. The bowlers, led by India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar (8), have been terrific.
Royal Challengers Bangalore players who might make an impact in IPL today's match (RCB vs SHR): Royal Challengers Bangalore have blown hot and cold this season, but they're getting things together right at the business end. Virat Kohli's team hadn't won two matches on the bounce in their first ten matches. But faced with a do-or-die situation, they've pulled off two magnificent wins in their last two matches; first, they chased down 182 against the Delhi Daredevils, and most recently decimated Kings XI Punjab. The match against KXIP was by far their best one could ask for; the bowler's bowled to a plan, the fielders gave their best in the field, and the openers then scored the runs required. RCB's net run rate improved significantly, and they now need to win their remaining two matches to progress beyond the league stage. Umesh Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal have become Virat Kohli's two dependable bowlers. If Yadav is able to knock off the top-order cheaply, RCB will fancy themselves, given the SRH middle-order hasn't been tested too often this season. Chahal has been successful in keeping control over the scoring, while also dismissing key batsmen in the opposition. Kohli and ace South African batsman AB De Villiers are RCB's key players as far as the batting in concerned.
The pair have combined to pile up nearly half of RCB's total runs this season but the side needs bigger contributions from the likes of Moeen Ali and Corey Anderson. Kohli has led from the front with 514 runs in 12 games.
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