IPL 2021: Predicted starting lineups for SunRisers Hyderabad vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) were the team to have retained the maximum number of players before the IPL 2021 Auction. They have a well-balanced squad overall, and that should make their upcoming contest against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) an interesting one. The solid core of SRH revolves around a few key players. It starts with their captain, David Warner at the top. Warner is followed by Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey and Jonny Bairstow in the middle-order. Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T Natarajan are the key men in the bowling department. These are the players SRH would rely heavily upon for a successful campaign in IPL 2021. RCB are coming off a strong win against the powerhouse Mumbai Indians (MI) in the inaugural match of this edition. They will be looking to continue the same kind of form against SRH in their second match of this season’s IPL.

Here are the predicted starting line-ups for both teams:

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

Virat Kohli (Captain): Kohli looked fluent during his 29-ball stay in the middle in the match against Mumbai Indians. The Bangalore skipper scored 33 runs in the match. Kohli will be looking to score some big runs at the top of the order.

Devdutt Padikkal: Devdutt Padikkal might return back to the RCB lineup for the encounter against Sunrisers Hyderabad. And, that would mean that Rajat Patidar will have to face the axe. Padikkal was in scintillating form in his debut IPL season last year in the UAE, and plundered 473 runs at an average of 31.53. 

Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers: The Bangalore side is blessed with two batsmen who can decimate any bowling attack on their day in the middle order. Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers will occupy the No.3 and No.4 positions respectively. And, both these willow wielders were in good form in Bangalore’s opening match of IPL 2021. While Maxwell scored 39 off 28 deliveries, De Villiers scored a scintillating 27-ball 48. If Maxwell and De Villiers come good in the second match, then the ‘Orange Army’ will have a lot to worry about.

Dan Christian: The Bangalore side is blessed with a number of quality all-rounders. Dan Christian can prove to be a dangerous willow wielder on his day. At the same time, he can also roll his arm over when the team requires him to, and scalp crucial wickets

Shahbaz Ahmed: Shahbaz Ahmed is still in the early days of his IPL career, but is an exciting prospect. Can contribute with the bat and ball.

Kyle Jamieson: The Kiwi Cricketer attracted a lot of interest in the auction and RCB shelled a whopping Rs 15 crore to secure his services. He can smack the ball if required and is a fine bowler. Jamieson will be under pressure thanks to the price tag attached to him and it will be interesting to see how he fares in his maiden IPL season.

Washington Sundar: Sundar did not do much in Bangalore’s previous match with the ball. He bowled just the one over, gave away 7 runs, and scalped the wicket of Chris Lynn. Sundar opened the batting in the last game for Bangalore and scored 10 runs. He will be looking to make some useful contributions against the SunRisers.

Harshal Patel: He was the star performer for the Bangalore side with the ball in the encounter against Mumbai Indians (MI). The right-arm pacer scalped 5 wickets and gave away just 27 runs in his quota of 4 overs. He will be looking to continue the same kind of form coming into this match.

Mohammed Siraj: Siraj did a tidy job and gave away 22 runs in his quota of 4 overs. Since the Australian series, he has looked like a rejuvenated bowler, with his quick pace and swing. The SRH openers will be looking to play him off.

Yuzvendra Chahal: While Chahal could not scalp even a single wicket in the previous match against the Mumbai side, he will be looking to turn things around against the batting line up of SRH.

SunRisers Hyderabad:

David Warner (Captain): Despite his poor start to the campaign, one can never quite write off the bulldog. Warner is one of the best openers in this format and the captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad holds a brilliant record with the bat in IPL. He failed to perform with the bat against Kolkata Knight Riders and will be looking to gain his momentum in this match.

Jonny Bairstow: He scored a half-century against Kolkata Knight Riders and has been a consistent scorer for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the past as well. He will be a safe pick for your Fantasy team. The SRH batting line up very much depends on Bairstow to score some big runs.

Kane Williamson: The Kiwi is arguably New Zealand’s best batsman across all formats of the game at the moment. When it comes to technique with the bat, very few can rival his style and finesse. Williamson will be looking to open his IPL account against RCB.

Manish Pandey: Pandey managed to score a half-century in the first game, but at a very slow rate. He consumed quite a lot of balls in the process. Pandey will be looking to improve his strike rate against RCB. His performances can determine the result for SRH.

Wriddhiman Saha: Saha has been in great form in domestic tournaments. However, he is yet to replicate the performances in IPL. Having failed to make an impact in the first match against KKR, he will be eager to get some runs to his name against RCB.

Abdul Samad: Samad scored 19 runs off 8 balls including two huge hits down the ground against Pat Cummins, in the last match against KKR. It would be nice to see him promoted up the order to face a few balls before going ballistic.

Vijay Shankar: He is an important figure in the SRH dressing room. Warner knows that Shankar is an asset to the team, considering his ability to perform with the bat and bowl as well. Shankar can strike the ball quite a long way and bowl some useful overs.

Rashid Khan: He has been a consistent wicket-taker for Sunrisers Hyderabad over the past few seasons, and is also coming off 2 wickets from the first game of this season. Will be interesting to see him face off against the likes of Kohli, ABD and Maxwell.

T. Natarajan: His incredible death bowling in the previous edition got him a spot in the Indian National team. He will be looking to improve his performance from the first match.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar: Failure to get any sort of service from the pitch in the previous match saw Bhuvi having a very bad day at the office. One of his worst performances, conceded 45 runs in 4 overs at an economy of 11.2. Bhuvneshwar will be looking to improve his figures against RCB.

Sandeep Sharma: Same as Bhuvneshwar, Sandeep too failed to find any sort of swing which resulted in him giving away plenty of runs. If the ball is swinging around, these two can prove lethal in the first few overs.