The Eliminator match of the IPL 2020 will see Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) taking on the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Abu Dhabi on November 6, 2020. The match will begin at 7.30 PM IST onwards.
Both the teams worked hard to get into the top four and will have to work even harder to reach the finals. RCB has had one of their best outings in IPL since 2016, while SRH has made a habit of making it into the top four and has played the final most recently in 2018.
This is where David Warner’s SRH has an advantage over Virat Kohli’s RCB that his team is used to the big match pressure and has done well in the past as well. And that has been possible due to their team selection and therefore, TEAM COC presents to you the Predicted Playing XI for the Eliminator match between RCB and SRH in Abu Dhabi.
ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE (RCB)
RCB made it into the final four despite losing to Delhi Capitals solely on the basis of their net run rate which remained unhurt as DC played more than the stipulated overs for their victory. However, they will be facing a team that has made playoffs since 2016 and has been champions once and runners-up once during that period.
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Meanwhile, RCB has made it into the top four for the first time since 2016, when they lost to SRH in the finals. The team has had issues with their batting the most, given that they found a solution for their bowling woes this time. Devdutt Padikkal and AB de Villiers have been the consistent run-scorers for them at a good strike-rate, but Kohli despite his run haul, has disappointed at the rate at which he has made his runs.
Finch, apart from a couple of knocks, proved to be a dud, while Josh Philippe has shown great acumen for taking advantage of the powerplays. Chris Morris has added power to death overs hitting, while Sundar has made runs when needed.
RCB might want to bolster their batting by including Gurkeerat Singh Mann in the playing XI for this game, in case Navdeep Saini cannot make it due to his injury. The RCB bowling is in the capable hands of Morris and Siraj, who bring the pace and the guile of Udana can halt the SRH run charge in the crunch game. As before, Sundar and Chahal will helm the spin department and will be tasked with keeping the runs down and pick wickets.
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD (SRH)
Sunrisers Hyderabad took their time, but ultimately found their best-balanced playing XI with the inclusion of Jason Holder and Wriddhiman Saha and dropping a struggling Jonny Bairstow. They found a way to plug the inexperience hole in the middle order with Kane Williamson guiding the young Abdul Samad and Priyam Garg.
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However, they might want to bring in Abhishek Sharma for Samad in this match, given that he is a left-hander and most probably will encounter Chahal in middle overs if the time comes. He is also a handy spinner, taking the ball away from the right-handed dominant RCB team.
Rashid Khan will also enjoy support from the other end with Sharma and Nadeem bowling in tandem, while Natarajan and Sandeep do their thing with the old and new ball at the death and in powerplays respectively.
This will be a mouthwatering clash between two evenly matches teams but on different levels of confidence.
RCB COC Predicted Playing XI:
Josh Philippe, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli (C), AB de Villiers (WK), Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Washington Sundar, Isuru Udana, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj
SRH COC Predicted Playing XI:
David Warner (C), Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Priyam Garg, Jason Holder, Abdul Samad, Rashid Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan
