After ending what seemed an unending series of defeats at Hyderabad a couple of days ago in the Indian Premier League (IPL 2024), Royal Challengers Bengaluru must be hoping its turnaround story continues in the sweltering heat of Sunday. It is up against home side Gujarat Titans which should want to put behind it the four-run loss to Delhi Capitals in its last match.
Despite that defeat at New Delhi, Gujarat Titans are still in the race for a place in the Playoffs, with eight points from nine games. RCB has just four points from as many games and is placed right at the bottom with a not-very-encouraging net run rate.
Against Sunrisers Hyderabad, however, RCB had one of its most gratifying days with the bat, as the middle-order clicked, with Rajat Patidar and Cameron Green scoring 50 and 37 not out respectively off the 20 balls they each faced. The RCB batting this season had been mostly about opener Virat Kohli (430 runs).
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The bowling attack, featuring the likes of Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal, Swapnil Singh and Karn Sharma had done well to subdue SRH’s powerful batting line-up. They should be particularly wary of the home captain Shubman Gill, who loves to bat at this venue.
Gill and B. Sai Sudharshan have been doing the bulk of scoring for GT. Some runs from the middle order should help.
In Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad and R. Sai Kishore, GT boasts fine spinners. Seamer Sandeep Warrier was impressive in the last match while the death bowling let the team down.
Tags: IPL RCB Royal Challengers Bengaluru hopes continue season turnaround Gujarat Titans
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