The 36th match of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL 2022) will be played between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on April 23, 2022, in the second encounter of the double-header.
Both the teams are seeing an upswing in their fortunes as RCB has won five of their last six matches after starting with a defeat. Sunrisers Hyderabad has hit back with four consecutive victories following two losses, to begin with.
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Royal Challengers are placed second on the IPL 2022 table; Sunrisers are fifth from one game fewer. And now they will face each other in a potentially explosive match.
Keeping this in mind, here is the COC Predicted Playing XIs for the RCB v SRH match
ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE
RCB are in top form in the ongoing IPL 2022 and much of it has to be attributed to their captain Faf du Plessis as he had led from the front with the bat and his captaincy has been amazing. While his opening partner Anuj Rawat has blown hot and cold, the franchise has backed him no matter what.
However, it has been heartbreaking to see Virat Kohli try to score runs and fail badly. It seems like he needs a break badly, but it is highly unlikely that it will happen. The middle order of Glenn Maxwell and Shahbaz Ahmed has done excellently, especially Ahmed as he has been brilliant with the bat.
Suyash Prabhudessai has done well whenever he has gotten a chance, while the star for RCB has been Dinesh Karthik, who has embodied the spirit of being a finisher and has been someone who has lifted the spirits of the team.
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Wanindu Hasaranga has done well in the middle overs, while Mohammed Siraj is trying to find his rhythm in the supporting role. Harshal Patel and Josh Hazlewood have been excellent with Hazlewood employing Test match lines and lengths to good effect in T20s to pick wickets.
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD
SRH, on the other hand, seem to have found their mojo at the right time and is yet to lose more than three wickets in a match since those games. All four victories have come while chasing, as they have hunted down totals with time, overs, and wickets in hand.
While Abhishek Sharma has not been in the greatest of touches and Kane Williamson has scored runs, albeit with a strike rate that SRH would feel like he can do better. But Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, and Nicholas Pooran have compensated for it well.
Rahul Tripathi at No. 3 seems to have found fifth gear easily, cracking 161 runs at a strike rate of 189 in these four games. Markram has bashed 190 runs at a strike rate of 150 so far - that includes two unbeaten half-centuries - and has been dismissed only once in five innings.
While their spinners have not done much as they await the return of Washington Sundar from injury, SRH’s pace battery of T Natarajan, Umran Malik, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have been the ones in top form.
Sunrisers could turn out to be serious contenders for the title if they continue producing such all-around consistency in their future matches.
RCB COC Predicted Playing XI:
Faf du Plessis (C), Anuj Rawat, Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Suyash Prabhudessai, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik (WK), Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Josh Hazlewood, Mohammed Siraj
SRH COC Predicted Playing XI:
Kane Williamson (C), Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran (WK), Shashank Singh, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Marco Jansen, T Natarajan, Umran Malik
