Preview & Prediction: Match 3 (RCB vs SRH)

Clash of the Batting Giants

Both the teams largely depend on their batting greats to score most of the team runs and they rarely fail. It will eventually come down to who bowls better (with lesser margin of error) to determine the winner of this mouth-watering clash. 

Pitch Report 

Dubai: The pitch should be similar to yesterday and pacers are expected to do well. 

Probable XI

RCB: Finch, Kohli, Padikkal, de Villiers, Gurkeerat, Dube, Sundar, Morris, Steyn, Saini, Chahal
Parthiv could play for either Gurkeerat or Padikkal. Pacers expected to be preferred over Moeen & Zampa.

SRH: Warner, Bairstow, Manish, Shankar, Virat Singh, Samad, Nabi, Rashid, Bhuvi, Khaleel, Sandeep
Nabi is likely to play for Kane Williamson to strengthen spin and middle order.
 

Head to Head
Head to Head across seasons, SRH is slightly ahead with 57% wins.

Year-wise, both teams have been neck to neck in the last 2 seasons.

Pattern
RCB starts its campaign better than SRH does. Winning 62% of the initial games is as good as it gets.

Players Match Up

1. Virat Kohli:-

-Sandeep has joint-most IPL wickets of Kohli(6) with Nehra. Kohli averages only 10 vs this swing bowler.

-Kohli averages 2nd-worst vs SRH among his opponents in last 2 seasons:-
Avg vs CSK: 10.3
Avg vs SRH: 17.5

-Kohli's average vs SRH bowlers:-
Avg vs Sandeep: 10 (6 dismissals)
Avg vs Khaleel: 11 (1)
Avg vs Rashid: 12 (1)
Avg vs Bhuvi: 32 (2)
 

2. AB de Villiers:-

-ABD also averages 2nd-worst vs SRH among his opponents in the last 2 seasons
Avg vs DC: 9
Avg vs SRH: 19

-ABD's average vs SRH bowlers:-
Avg vs Nabi: 1
Avg vs Rashid: 3.5
Avg vs Bhuvi: 24
Avg vs Sandeep: 43

-In last 3 years, ABD averages only 16 vs Offbreak and 26 vs Legbreak. The Afghan duo will look to target him.

3. David Warner:-

-Averages 116 vs Chahal.
-Averages 51.5 vs RCB. 114 in the last 3 seasons. 88.5 since 2015.
-Warner has joint-most 50s against RCB with Rohit Sharma(7)

4. Jonny Bairstow
- Averages only 20 vs Off-break
-Has played only once vs RCB and scored 114.

5. Key players vs Bowling styles:-
Warner has been totally dominating Legspin. RCB's best weapon should be worried about how to go against him.
Below are the numbers since 2017 against a particular bowling type for a minimum of 50 balls played.

 

Fun Stats

-SRH wins 72.2% of games when Warner goes past 50.

-RCB loses 70% of the games when ABD scores below 30 or strikes below 130

Fantasy Team

-David Warner (Captain)
Easiest pic for the captain. Nobody has performed better than Warner vs RCB in recent years. He has smoked the bowling time and again and his international form should not be a worry. He is more comfortable in orange than yellow.
 

-Bairstow (VC)
Stellar season last year and a ton vs AUS recently makes him a more promising pick over the likes of AB or Virat who have poor numbers against this opponent.

-ABD, Virat, Finch
Affording all of the above 5 is the safest bet one could have. But feel free to swap Finch with Chahal in case you feel the presence of the leg spinner is indispensable.

-Dube, Padikkal
Low price and high expectations make them the best fit.

-Rashid, Saini, Khaleel, Steyn
Pace battery of Saini & Steyn with Khaleel and his useful cutters should do well. Rashid is too good to be missed. Saini could be another prospect for VC if your trust in Bairstow is thin.

Why not Manish?
Highly likely to play anchor in case one of the stellar opener falls, Manish is too expensive to be included. He is at 9 Cr which is same as Finch, Chahal & Bhuvi.

Records

Men in Orange are dominating through and through. Although Kohli & ABD have decent numbers, thanks to their initial clashes.