Hyderabad and Bangalore lock horns in the South Indian derby of the Indian T20 League 2021. Hyderabad are coming off a 10-run defeat against Kolkata, while Bangalore won their opening match against defending champions.
Match Timings: April 14, 7:30 PM IST
Team Preview
Hyderabad and Bangalore will meet in Wednesday’s Indian T20 League encounter. Two sides last met in the playoffs last year when Kane Williamson’s steady finish won the eliminator game for Hyderabad. Bangalore made a good start to the season by winning a last-ball thriller against Mumbai. They had so many positives from the previous game. Harshal Patel got a fifer and ABD played a match-winning knock. Bangalore bowled very well in death-overs which is a great sign for them. Glenn Maxwell looked better in middle-overs and his approach can help Bangalore later in the tournament.
Kohli will surely include Devdutt Padikkal for this fixture who missed out the opening game due to health reasons. Any change is unlikely to happen for them. Harshal Patel was impressive in death so Navdeep Saini will be dropped again. Bangalore would focus more on their middle-order issue. When Kohli and Maxwell were batting, the game was in control but they formed a mini-collapse before the ABD show. Bangalore can back themselves for another win with the team combination they have. Adam Zampa is back in the side and he can replace Daniel Christian to boost the spin-attack. With Sundar, Chahal, and Zampa, They have the strongest spin-attack.
Meanwhile, Hyderabad needs to fix its issues. They fell short of 10 runs in the last game. Some batting errors in the powerplay, following the poor bowling in the first inning, hurt Hyderabad. The team combination also surprised us. Kane Williamson was dropped in the previous game despite his good numbers against spin. Nabi and Rashid were effective but Hyderabad needs to understand the pitch.
Chasing was a bad idea in Chennai and Abdul Samad was sent to bat at down-order which was a poor call considering the ability of this young talent. Warner and Saha will open again and Bairstow’s attacking fifty in the last game created more confusion for Hyderabad. If they pick Williamson as well, they have to drop Nabi. Warner can look for Nadeem if he picks both Bairstow and Kane. Hyderabad had a good record against Bangalore since their glorious final in 2016 but the contest would be tough.
Pitch Report
Chennai’s surface is a decent batting track and after two matches, we will expect some extra help to spin. A score of 160 would be a competitive total on this track. Batting first is an ideal call after winning the toss.
Possible XI
Bangalore
Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, AB de Villiers (wk) Glenn Maxwell, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed/Rajat Patidar, Dan Christian/Adam Zampa, Kyle Jamieson, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal
Hyderabad
David Warner (c), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Manish Pandey, Jonny Bairstow/Kane Williamson, Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Abdul Samad, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan
Key Players
Bangalore
Virat Kohli
Greta numbers against Hyderabad, top-form in T20s
AB de Villiers
Quick 48 in last game under pressure, a class player in tough conditions
Hyderabad
David Warner
Best average against Bangalore, top-scorer for the side
Rashid Khan
24/2 in last game, a match winner on a surface like Chepauk
