After two thrilling matches, including a Super Over finish on Sunday, the Indan Premier League (IPL) 2020 shifts the focus to cricket's biggest star, Virat Kohli, and the clash between SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at Dubai, UAE on Monday. (More Cricket News)
Kohli has practically won everything in cricket, except the IPL, the world's premier T20 tournament organised by the BCCI, the board which means as much to him as to any other Indian legend. But the proximity ends the moment Kohli dons a shirt representing a franchise. And he's been in RCB colors for more than a decade, albeit without much success, during this seasonal carnival called the IPL.
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Now, IPL is in its 13th edition. And Kohli continues to search the elusive title. Can he win it this time? That we will know soon enough. But one thing is for sure - Kohli is hungrier and meaner. Meaning, cricket fans are in for a treat, starting tonight.
By the way, the SRH vs RCB fixture will feature a galaxy of stars. So, even if Kohli fails, there will others who will gladly take the centre stage.
With that, here's what you need to know ahead of the match:
Kohli focus
A win tonight, and Kohli will become the fourth captain to register fifty or more wins after MS Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma. Kohli also 20 runs short of overtaking Shane Watson as the leading run-scorer against SRH in the IPL. Both can happen tonight, realistically. Kohli can also become only the fourth batsman to hit 200+ sixes in IPL. Well, he needs 10 maximums. It's only a matter time, though. The list is led by Chris Gayle, and followed by AB de Villiers and MS Dhoni.
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So, can we expect a biggie from the 31-year-old tonight? Numbers tell that Kohli averages 21.36 in the first match of a season, which is well below his IPL average of 37.84.
Then, there's someone named Rashid Khan in the SRH camp. The Afghan spin wizard has the best economy in the IPL, an astounding 6.55 in the age of T20 cricket. It will be one intriguing battle.
Now, let's look at the possible XIs
SRH: David Warner (c), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Manish Pandey, Virat Singh, Vijay Shankar, Abdul Samad, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma
RCB: Aaron Finch, Parthiv Patel (wk), Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Gurkeerat Singh, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Chris Morris, Dale Steyn, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal
Match details and how to watch
What: Match 3 of the IPL 2020, between SunRisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore
When: September 12 (Monday), 2020 at 7:30 PM IST.
Where: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai, UAE
TV Channels: Star Sports channels
Live Streaming: Disney+ Hotstar
Head-to-head
SRH lead the head-to-head record, 8-6 in 15 meetings, with one no result.
Squads
RCB: Aaron Finch, Parthiv Patel (wk), Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Chris Morris, Dale Steyn, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal, Umesh Yadav, Isuru Udana, Moeen Ali, Pawan Negi, Adam Zampa, Pavan Deshpande, Mohammed Siraj, Devdutt Padikkal, Josh Philippe, Shahbaz Ahmed
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SRH: David Warner (c), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Manish Pandey, Virat Singh, Vijay Shankar, Abdul Samad, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, K Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Shreevats Goswami, Siddarth Kaul, Mitchell Marsh, Kane Williamson, Shahbaz Nadeem, Bavanaka Sandeep, Billy Stanlake, Fabian Allen, T Natarajan, Basil Thampi, Sanjay Yadav, Abhishek Sharma, Priyam Garg.
Prediction
Hyderabad to win a close match, mainly thanks to their superior bowling attack.
