IPL 9, Final Preview: Royal Challengers Bangalore on the brink of lifting premier title

Midway through the tournament, not many would have tipped the Royal Challengers Bangalore to reach the place they are currently in. However, some impressive performances on the back of some audacious form exhibited by Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and their bowlers has seen the Challengers waltz into the final in some style. In more ways than one, one can also agree that the Sunrisers Hyderabad are contesting in the final they well and truly deserve to be in. That said, it will be all to play for as these two sides face off against each other at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore in the summit clash of IPL 9.

Team News-

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

As well documented, the Challengers are certainly playing in a final that they certainly don’t deserve to be in as a team. However, in contrast to the aforementioned statement, Virat Kohli, and AB de Villiers definitely are the two players who most deserve the trophy. In addition, the bowling unit has stepped up, taking a cue from the devastating duo with Yuzvendra Chahal and Shane Watson reaching the 20-wicket mark.

Seven wins in their previous eight matches has seen the Bangalore team storm into the final. The most impressive of the victories came against the Gujarat Lions at Bangalore where AB de Villiers snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat.

While many will be hoping for all the players to bring their A-game to the fore, Virat Kohli will be aiming to do much better than the duck he scored in the previous match. Chris Gayle, Shane Watson, and Sachin Baby will also be aiming for the same as they are on the brink of achieving something special.

Despite the Chinnaswamy’s nature of playing clearly against the bowlers, S Arvind and Chris Jordan will have an important role in the game, wickets up front is what the skipper expects every time he watches his new-ball bowlers run in and those at the end can well prove to be the difference between champions and the runners-up.

Sunrisers Hyderabad:

David Warner has been the driving force for the SRH side thus far. He has fought like a one man army and has powered his team to the finals. He would perhaps want to produce one more match-winnings knock and get better of the favorites in their own den to lift the trophy.

The middle order has been very inconsistent throughout the tournament. The likes of Moises Henriques and Yuvraj Singh must ease the batting burden off their skipper who has run out of partners most of the times. This would be their last chance to make the tournament a memorable one.

Their bowling attack, which has been the shining factor, has suffered injury blows at the wrong time. Mustafizur Rahaman was ruled out of the Qualifier 2 due to a hamstring niggle and remains doubtful. Trent Boult, who replaced Rahman in the previous game, had a decent outing with the ball and on the field and should retain his place in case Fiz doesn’t make it. The Purple cap holder Bhuvmeshwar Kumar and Barinder Sran will have to put in their best performance if SRH wishes to contain the explosive RCB batting.

Probable XI-

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

Virat Kohli (C), KL Rahul (wk), Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Shane Watson Sachin Baby, Stuart Binny, Iqbal Abdulla, Yuzvendra Chahal, Chris Jordan, Sreenath Aravind

Sunrisers Hyderabad:

David Warner (C), Naman Ojha (wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Moises Henriques, Ben Cutting, Yuvraj Singh, Deepak Hooda, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Trent Boult/Mustafizur Rahman, Barinder Sran, Bipul Sharma

StAttack:

1. Virat Kohli needs 81 runs to become the first player to score 1000 runs in an IPL season.

2. Yuzvendra Chahal and Shane Watson are tied at 20 wickets apiece. This is the highest tally of wickets the Challengers have taken in an IPL tournament.

3. Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers have 8 ‘Man of the match’ awards between them. The only other instance where an RCB player has won the man of the match was Shane Watson against the Kings XI Punjab where the Challengers clinched a 1-run win.

4. David Warner has 779 runs in this edition of the IPL and is the second highest run-getter behind Virat Kohli. Bhuvneshwar Kumar received the purple cap after surpassing Shane Watson and Yuzvendra Chahal and now has 23 wickets to his name.

5. This is the first time Yuvraj Singh will be playing an IPL final.