Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), coming off of a brilliant display of cricket in an 88-run victory against the Delhi Capitals, would again have worries regarding their team-combinations before their game against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
In their last game, Wriddhiman Shah suffered a groin injury and didn't come out to keep after a brilliant display with the bat. All-rounder Vijay Shankar also suffered a hamstring injury while fielding and could not complete the game.
Getting Jonny Bairstow back at the top is a luxury David Warner can't afford as he needs the overs from Jason Holder as well as Kane Williamson's calm in the middle order. Rashid and the skipper himself are of-course un-droppable.
Add to that the worry that SRH can't afford to falter as they need to win both their remaining games to have a shot at the play-offs. They lose, and they're out. The equation is simple for them as they continue in the must-win territory.
RCB would be looking at this game to assure themselves a spot in the playoffs and to get back to winning ways after a Bumrah-SKY storm in the last game exposed their bowling as well as the batting unit.
Dale Steyn has failed to get a wicket this season and has barely looked even close to what he is capable of. His poor-run continued as he returned to the squad against Mumbai Indians and it is unlikely that RCB will continue with him, especially with the playoffs approaching and Isuru Udana doing well for them. If RCB want an extra leg-spinner to aid Chahal, they might look towards Adam Zampa to fill that fourth overseas spot. An injury to Navdeep Saini has presented skipper Kohli with a selection conundrum as Umesh Yadav has not inspired much confidence this season.
Virat Kohli would be raring to get back to winning ways after a drubbing at Mumbai's hand as a certain 'uncapped' Suryakumar Yadav calmly tore through their bowling.
If Saha and Vijay Shankar fail to recover before the game, SRH would have to look at Sreevats Goswami as a like for like replacement and Abhishek Sharma's handy off spin.
Likely 11s:
RCB: Devdutt Padikkal, Joshua Philippe, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers (wk), Gurkeerat Mann, Washington Sundar, Chris Morris, Isuru Udana/Adam Zampa, Shahbaz Ahmed/Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal
SRH: David Warner (c), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Abdul Samad, Vijay Shankar/Abhishek Sharma, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem/Khaleel Ahmed, T. Natarajan
