Highly-boosted Hyderabad takes on Bangalore in a must-win encounter at Sharjah in Indian T20 League 2020.
Match Timings: Oct 31, 7:30 PM
Team Preview
The musical chair for the top four is adding more thrill when the bottom sides are giving a scar to top sides. After narrow defeats to Kolkata and Punjab, Hyderabad thrashed Delhi by 88 runs to find themselves alive in a playoffs battle. The advantage of good net-run-rate can propel Hyderabad’s chances. They can reach at maximum 14 points and in case of a tie at the points table, they will be the first team who will take the playoff ticket. Warner tried Saha in the opening slot and it did wonder for Hyderabad. Rashid Khan is doing his job very well along with Jason Holder. With dropping Bairstow, Warner solved his team-combination issues. Vijay Shankar also got runs in a previous couple of games and the Indian bowlers have also done a good job by restricting the opponents on a below-par total. Hyderabad will play their last two matches in Sharjah which doesn’t suit their playing style. It would be a tough task to overcome Bangalore and Mumbai in the last two fixture. Without 14, they cannot go through but if somehow they get success, it would be a clear qualification for them.
Bangalore, meanwhile, lost two straight matches and their target for the top two spot looks blurred now. They have been outplayed by the oppositions in all departments. The one-man show cannot win matches for them. Picking 14 points already, they have secured their playoffs but still, one win would be required to avoid any NRR blunder. Their NRR is positive but you can expect a turnaround in the margin of defeats. Josh Phillipe was a good addition and Kohli would definitely go with him. Steyn might be dropped and Udana can get the recall. With final game agaisnt Delhi, Bangalore would aim to get two points on Saturday to grab the top-two finish. Sharjah’s surface is suitable for Bangalore but how their bowlers perform on this track, would be a big question.
Pitch Report
Sharjah’s surface is still a batting-friendly track and if offers a good amount of spin in middle-overs. It’s a night affair so batting would be easier. Short boundaries are a big advantage for batsmen. Any score above 180 is a pretty competitive total.
Possible XI
Bangalore
Josh Philippe, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers (wk), Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Washington Sundar, Dale Steyn, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal
Hyderabad
David Warner (c), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Vijay Shankar, Jason Holder, Abdul Samad, Rashid Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan
Key Players
Bangalore
Devdutt Padikkal
This season – M: 12, Runs: 417, Avg: 34.75
Virat Kohli
This season – M: 12, Runs: 424, Avg: 53
Hyderabad
Rashid Khan
This season – M: 12, Wickets: 17, Avg: 14.11
David Warner
This season – M: 12, Runs: 417, Avg: 39.63
