In the 65th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will welcome Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad tonight i.e. Thursday, May 18 at 7:30 PM IST.
In their last match on Sunday, RCB upset the league table by thrashing Rajasthan Royals (RR) in a massive 112-run victory. The triumph lifted their net run rate from -0.344 to a comfortable 0.166. They are now fifth with 12 points, the best position among three other teams with the exact same points, and therefore have the greatest likelihood of making the playoffs. The momentum gained from their historic triumph over RR will be carried on by RCB tonight as well. The bowling, which had been costly for much of the season, eventually paid off for RCB in a must-win game. Wayne Parnell, Michael Bracewell and Karn Sharma all performed admirably. Bracewell is a capable all-rounder, and RCB will very certainly use him against SRH. Despite the presence of Mahipal Lomror and Anuj Rawat in the RCB lineup, who can hit big shots, the side will rely heavily on Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli, and Glenn Maxwell.
SRH, on the other hand, have already been eliminated from contention for the playoffs. In their previous match against Gujarat Titans (GT), the Sunrisers were excellent with the ball. However, they failed miserably when it came to chasing down an attainable total. At the top, Abhishek Sharma delivered some encouraging performances. Nevertheless, it appears that the SRH management is sticking to its previous strategy of relying on overseas players to win games. There is also no shortage of quality bowling in the team. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Mayank Markande, and Fazzalaq Farooqi form a formidable bowling attack. The team will be seeking to put on an outstanding job in front of their supporters for the final time in this year’s edition.
On their day, SRH are capable of surprising any opponent, whilst RCB have become used to receiving shocks from nowhere, therefore this will be another intriguing battle for fans to look forward to.
Head-to-Head:
In a head-to-head comparison, SRH marginally outperforms RCB. In the 22 games between the two teams, Hyderabad won 12 while RCB won nine. One match ended without any result. In their last outing, which took place in the last season, RCB won by 67 runs.
Where-to-Watch:
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