A consistent Sunrisers Hyderabad unit would look to consolidate its position at the top of the points table while Royal Challengers Bangalore will fight for survival when they clash in the Indian Premier League on Monday night.

With their splendid bowling attack, Sunrisers emerged as good defenders initially but by defeating Delhi Daredevils with a seven-wicket margin on Saturday, they proved that they can pull off tight chases as well. They are on a four-match winning streak.

The hosts look good for a play-off spot but still there are issues that must be bothering them ahead of the business end of the tournament. Opener Shikhar Dhawan’s low strike rate must be a concern for them along with a shaky middle-order.

The Virat Kohli-led RCB, though, are struggling for survival as they need to win every game and also hope that other results go in their favour to remain in contention for the play-offs. They are placed sixth in the table with just three wins from nine games.

Kohli and AB de Villiers will have to be at their best with the bat to make it tough for SRH, whose bowlers have proved to be headache for all teams.

Parthiv Patel (who scored 53 runs against Chennai) and Brendon McCullum need to support their side and the likes of Mandeep Singh and Colin de Grandhomme have to step up.

Death bowling has been a cause for concern for RCB, but they cannot afford to let it remain unchecked when it comes playing against the Sunrisers.

Meanwhile, Sunrises Hyderabad are enjoying a dream run in the ongoing edition with their bowling attack dominating batsmen of all teams. Spinner Rashid Khan, pacers Siddharth Kaul and Sandeep Sharma, and spin all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, have been very effective.

Squads

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Manish Pandey, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Wriddhiman Saha, Siddharth Kaul, Deepak Hooda, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Shreevats Goswami, Ricky Bhui, Basil Thampi, T Natarajan, Sachin Baby, Bipul Sharma, Mehdi Hasan, Tanmay Agarwal, Alex Hales, Carlos Brathwaite, Rashid Khan, Shakib Al Hasan, Mohammad Nabi and Chris Jordan.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (C), Quinton de Kock, Brendon McCullum, AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Chris Woakes, Washington Sundar, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Colin de Grandhomme, Moeen Ali, Pawan Negi, Mohammed Siraj, Corey Anderson, Parthiv Patel, Tim Southee.

Head to head

Overall: Matches: 10, Sunrisers Hyderabad won: 6, Royal Challengers Bangalore won: 4.

In Hyderabad: Matches: 5, Sunrisers Hyderabad won: 4, Royal Challengers Bangalore won: 1.

Key stats

  • Sandeep Sharma has so far dismissed Virat Kohli on five occasions – the most he has dismissed a particular batsman in the IPL.
  • Virat Kohli needs 27 runs to once again go past Suresh Raina (4801) and become the highest run-getter in the IPL.
  • SRH have the two most economical bowlers in the Powerplay period in VIVO IPL 2018; Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s economy rate in the first six overs is 5.20, while Sandeep Sharma’s economy rate is 5.30.  
  • YuzvendraChahal has gone wicket-less in the last three matches; the last time he had a stretch of three or more wicket-less matches was in 2014.  

(With inputs from PTI and iplt20.com)