Lifted by the confidence of a win over the defending champions, Royal Challengers Bangalore are set to begin their first batch of home matches. Their opponents on Monday, Sunrisers Hyderabad, lost their opening match to Chennai Super Kings. Yet despite the contrasting results, both teams have a similar set of problems to address.
Take Chris Gayle’s 96 out of the match against Knight Riders – an innings that itself was helped by a few reprieves – and Royal Challengers had little to show for in terms of performances with the bat and ball. The three frontline pacers all gave away runs at more than nine an over and their batting acquisitions – Dinesh Karthik, Mandeep Singh and Darren Sammy – failed to hold the chase together, falling to expansive shots at crucial times. It may be a one-off failure for the middle order but Royal Challengers have an option of dropping Virat Kohli down to no. 3 or 4 for stability and use someone like Manvinder Bisla as an opener.
The bowling is Sunrisers’ stronger suit, but the absence of Dale Steyn left them considerably weakened in the opening game, and their lengths to Brendon McCullum and co did little to alleviate the problem. Like Royal Challengers against Knight Riders, the Sunrisers middle order, too, struggled, tied down even further by the pressure of a steep chase. Their immediate worry will be to pick an attack that can limit the Royal Challengers batting on their home turf. They will also have to contend with the weather, with evening showers forecast for Monday.
Watch out for
Sunrisers face an issue with their combination on the batting and bowling fronts. Do they bring in Dale Steyn at the cost of Trent Boult or Ravi Bopara? Or do they drop Bopara for Eoin Morgan? And is No. 6 too low a position for Kane Williamson?
Yuzvendra Chahal was one of the most impressive bowlers for Royal Challengers in IPL 2014, and had a promising start to the 2015 against Knight Riders, finishing as the most economic bowler for the side in the game with the key wicket of Gautam Gambhir. Royal Challengers will hope he can build on this start and better last season’s performance.
Stats and trivia
A total of 531 sixes have been hit in IPL matches at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai is next with 463. In terms of boundary fours, the Chinnaswamy is second (1157 fours) after Feroz Shah Kotla (1172).
Chris Gayle’s run-out in the match against Knight Riders was the first time the batsman was dismissed in that fashion in the IPL.
Quotes
“I am not going to let composure or complacency get in my game. I am looking forward to another big game back home.”
Chris Gayle is keen on a big knock in front of the Royal Challengers home fans
