Will RCB show SRH the door? | IPL 2020 Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Sunrisers Hyderabad: SWOT Analysis

In the second clash of Saturday, the Royal Challengers Bangalore face the Sunrisers Hyderabad in match 52 of the IPL at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

The SWOT for RCB

Strengths: The batting seems to have strengthened with Josh Philippe opening in place of the struggling Aaron Finch. With Devdutt Padikkal settled as a reliable opener who racks up consistent scores and Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers to follow, the batters have reached a good place.

Weaknesses: The bowling issues resurfaced against Mumbai. It was a mistake to play Dale Steyn instead of Isuru Udana. Kohli needs to get smarter in managing his bowling resources. 

Opportunities: A victory will take RCB to 16 points and they should be through to the play-offs. 

Threats: If they lose this clash, they will be stuck with a must-win final match. RCB would want to avoid that situation as they might get pushed out of the play-offs by another team. 

The SWOT for SRH 

Strengths: They found a player who can help them use both Kane Williamson and Jason Holder in the XI. Wriddhiman Saha’s batting in his first match of the season was inspiring to watch. Unfortunately, Saha was injured and may not play in this match. 

Weaknesses: SRH are too reliant on Rashid Khan to get wickets for them. Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed and Jason Holder should make more of an impact. 

Opportunities: They could spoil RCB’s tournament hopes and make their final push for the play-offs.  

Threats: It is a must-win match. Can Warner lead from the front when it counts?

Head to head:

Matches played: 16

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 7

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 8

No result: 1 

Last five matches (most recent first):

Royal Challengers Bangalore: L-L-W-W-L

Sunrisers Hyderabad: W-L-W-L-L

What happened in the reverse fixture? 

Yuzvendra Chahal was the Player of the Match with a spell of 4-0-18-3 that guided RCB to a 10-run win.

Deccan Herald’s Dream XI

Devdutt Padikkal, David Warner, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Manish Pandey, Washington Sundar, Chris Morris, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Siraj, T Natarajan, Yuzvendra Chahal

Team news

No injury updates reported from either team.

Ground conditions

The sky will be hazy with the temperature around 23 degrees Celsius. The humidity will be about 76% with evening winds.

Impact player for RCB 

Virat Kohli: Back-to-back losses have hurt the team and Kohli needs to lift their spirits. He needs to deliver one of his special knocks to get the team into the play-offs.

Impact player for SRH

Rashid Khan: He is SRH's leading wicket-taker with 17 scalps and has the best economy among the five top wicket-takers this season. He also stops the flow of runs in the middle of the innings. Not many batsmen have been able to take on Rashid.  

How to watch

The match will be broadcast live on the Star Sports network. Viewers can also catch the action online on Disney+Hotstar. The match begins at 7.30 PM IST.