The third match of the ongoing 13th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) is going to be played between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore at Dubai International Cricket Statium in Dubai on Monday.
Head to Head Statistics
Total Matches Played : 15
| Team | Won | Loss | N/R |
| Hyderabad | 8 | 6 | 1 |
| Bangalore | 6 | 8 | 1 |
Match Prediction
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) has always been a strong side on paper but hasn’t been able to succeed much often. The team looks solid this time too. However, their opponent Sunrisers Hyderabad are one of the balanced side in the tournament. It can be a tough call in between the two but I am placing bet on Hyderabad to win this one.
Also Read: IPL 2020 : Complete Squads of all teams
Sunrisers Hyderabad Probable Playing XI
David Warner (captain)Jonny Bairstow (wk)Manish PandeyPriyam GargVijay ShankarAbshishek Sharma / Abdul Samad
Mohammad Nabi
Rashid KhanBhuvneshwar KumarKhaleel Ahmed
Sandeep Sharma
Player to Watch : Jonny Bairstow and Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Royal Challengers Bangalore Probable Playing XI
Aaron FinchParthiv Patel (WK)
Virat Kohli (C)
AB de VilliersGurkeerat SinghShivam DubeWashington Sundar
Chris Morris
Dale SteynNavdeep Saini
Yuzvendra Chahal
Player to Watch : Aaron Finch and Yuzvendra Chahal
The dangerous Warner-Baitstow pair will open the innings for Hyderabad. The top 3 looks pretty solid for the team with Manish Pandey coming in at 3. The real headache however will be the inexperienced middle order. I am not sure if you can depend a lot on guys like Vijay Shankar, Priyam Garg, Abhishek Sharma and Abdul Samad. The two spinners from Afghanistan Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi will have a crucial role with the ball and both can be more than handy with the bat in lower order. The pace attack looks good with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma and Khaleel Ahmed.
Aaron Finch is most likely to open for RCB along with wicketkeeper batsman Parthiv Patel. Kohli will come at 3 and De Villiers at 4. RCB would want at least one of their openers to have a brilliant season. Over dependence on Kohli and AB has always been the major issue in RCB batting. When both Kohli and AB gets going, RCB simply blows away any opposition whereas if these guys fail, RCB themselves get blown away. But the inclusion of players like Finch and Chris Morris might reduce that over dependence on the two big guns for RCB.
It will be interesting to see RCB’s foreign picks for playing XI. Aaron Finch and De Villiers are obvious picks. There might be a choice among Moeen Ali and Chris Morris for the allrounder slot. It seems the team management might go with Morris over Moeen. In case the team wants both Moeen and Morris, there may be chance that Steyn might have to miss out.
Overall, I am expecting a tough battle between these two teams. Based on head to head stats, I am backing Sunrisers Hyderabad to come out victorious.
The match prediction and teamselection done is purely personal opinion of the writer.