IPL 2021: Match 6 SRH vs RCB Preview, Playing XI, Live Streaming Details & Updates

“Last time we won the first game we played as well. It was important to play against the strongest opposition to test the depth of your team. Everyone got involved, everyone’s got game time,” stated a cheerful Virat Kohli after his team managed to pip the defending champions, Mumbai Indians, just by 2 wickets in a game that went until the last ball. The tournament is in its early days, and even as there is nothing sweeter for a captain than starting things on a correct note, things changing quickly in the IPL is no rare sight.

In the new caravan format, RCB will square off with David Warner’s Sunrisers Hyderabad at the same venue. Unlike their rivals, Hyderabad’s search will not be to maintain momentum but create it, having lost their first game to Kolkata Knight Riders by a mild margin of 10 runs.

On the plane of batting, these are two evenly-matched sides, which both rely on heavy-hitting at the top of the order. And even on a head-to-head count, the gulf is not as dramatically wide as some other teams in the tournament (10-7 in SRH’s favor in 18 games). But what does this contest comes down to?

RCB possesses Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, and Glenn Maxwell. There is a certain prospect of Devdutt Padikkal returning to his duty at the top, which will send Washington Sundar, the opener against Mumbai Indians, down the order. SRH has Sandeep Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, and Rashid Khan. It is quite clear that the narrative will be driven by the contest of RCB’s batting versus SRH’s bowling.

RCB rested Navdeep Saini in the opener, while Harshal Patel registered a record fifer, and Kyle Jamieson was impressive on debut. Despite all that, RCB’s bowlers are not at a parallel to SRH’s. What, however, RCB must be most pleased about is the kind of performance their bowlers showed in the death overs – restricting MI only to 159/9, bagging exceptional figures of 25/5 in the last four overs: an area where they have perennially struggled.

Hyderabad, meanwhile, had a fair share of a gamble, as they continued with the divorce of Warner-Bairstow at the top, sending the latter in the middle-order instead. While that does give their slightly inexperienced and fire-power lacking middle-order immense boost, the downside of it was discovered in the previous game when both Warner and Saha were undone early and cheaply.

Bairstow, though, made his case strong with a half-century, showing that he is capable even at a position where he generally is not seen batting. There are issues to be tackled in the order after Abdul Samad smacked a brisk cameo, leading to a point of whether he should be promoted over Vijay Shankar. Much of what SRH’s order will look like will depend upon their next couple of games. Not to forget, there is Kane Williamson too, who their head coach Trevor Bayliss sees coming into “calculations” soon.

Pitch and conditions

A total of 28 wickets have fallen at Chennai in the two games thus far. Contrary to the spin-friendly reputation, only seven of those 28 have belonged to the spinners. Economy-wise too, none of the spinners’ spell, barring Rashid Khan’s against KKR, has been impressive. Sticking to these impressions, ‘spin to win’ does not seem to be as obvious as it once did.

Playing combinations for SRH vs KKR

Sunrisers Hyderabad 

Kane Williamson “needs more time to regain match fitness” as per Trevor Bayliss, which means that a change in the order is not expectable as yet. Jason Holder has joined the squad after fulfilling his mandatory isolation and might replace Mohammad Nabi. Another change looks unlikely.

Probable XI: David Warner (C), Wriddhiman Saha, Manish Pandey, Jonny Bairstow, Mohammad Nabi/Jason Holder, Vijay Shankar, Abdul Samad, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Sandeep Sharma

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Devdutt Padikkal is set to join the team at the expense of Rajat Patidar. Virat Kohli suggested post-match that the team’s batting combination will be subjected to the condition. With him opening alongside Padikkal, expect the remaining order to be floating as per the RCB’s game progresses.

Predicted XI: Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli (C), Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers (WK), Shahbaz Ahmed, Dan Christian, Washington Sundar, Kyle Jamieson, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal

SRH vs RCB Head to Head

Played – 18 | SRH – 10 | RCB – 7 | NR – 1

SRH vs RCB Broadcast Details

Match Timings – 7:30 PM IST

TV – Star Sports Network

Live Streaming – Disnet+Hotstar