After first 5 games Royal Challengers Bangalore were at the bottom with only 2 wins. Their first defeat was against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Bangalore when they played their 2nd match of season. From that position when almost everyone considered them the punchbag of 8th edition, Kohli’s team is looking forward to the revenge win against Sunrisers. From current 6th position, RCB will jump to 2nd position, while Sunrisers will edge past KKR to move to 3rd position, if they defeat RCB again. The match will also see triple contest, one for the teams and two for the players for Orange Cap and Purple Cap.
Indian Premier League 2015: Schedule and Results
Both the teams can reach 2nd position with a win, while a loss will not change their position on the current Points Tally. Besides that with 18 wickets in 12 matches, B Kumar is placed second behind current Purple Cap Holder Dwayne Brave who has got 19 wickets in his kitty. From RCB, Chahal with 17 wickets in 10 innings and Starc with 17 wickets in 8 innings will compete with him to race ahead of Bravo. The third race is for the Orange Cap.
Instead of the usual Orange Cap holder of other IPL editions, Gayle, it is AB de Villiers who will contest for Orange Cap with David Warner as both teams fight for the 2nd position on the Points Table. AB de Villiers has 461 runs from 11 innings of 12 matches with a century and a 50, while David Warner has the Orange Cap with 504 runs in 12 innings of 12 matches scoring 6 50s.
In the last two editions, both teams have won a match each. In IPL 2015, Sunrisers Hyderabad won comfortably when they met first time, after chasing 167 runs with 16 balls to spare as current Orange Cap holder and the only player to cross 500 runs this season, captain David Warner earned first of his 4 MOMs this season.
2014
- Bangalore: RCB won by 4 wickets, MOM: AB de Villiers (41-ball 89* runs, 6 4s 8 6s)
Hyderabad: Sunrisers won by 7 wickets, MOM: Warner (46-ball 59 runs with 4 6s 3 4s)
2013
- Hyderabad: Sunrisers Hyderabad won in Super over by 5 runs, MOM: Hanuman Vihari
Bangalore: RCB won by 7 wickets, MOM: Virat Kohli
Royal Challengers Bangalore has travelled from bottom to the current position where with 2 matches left they are looking to be the strongest candidate among the six contenders to enter the Playoffs. With key players performing and aided by local players after Starc, the World Cup star joined the team, RCB has become the team to beat now.
AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle has already scored centuries, while Captain Kohli is among the top scorers of current season. Starc has continued his world cup form, although in the last few matches he has been decoded by teams.
Sunrisers on the other hand depend heavily on openers. Morgan and Henriques have also taken them to victory in some matches. But, their strenght lies in bowling. They are one of the few teams in IPL 2015 who can feel confident of winning even if they score just above 150 runs batting first.
Warner has won 2 of the 3 MOMs when Sunrisers have won against RCB, while AB de Villiers and Kohli won the MOMs when RCB won in 2 of the 5 matches they played against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
With the rain bringing in some cool wind, who will benefit more and reach the second position?
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