RCB eye smooth passage to playoffs as they face ousted SRH

Big Picture

On Sunday, Royal Challengers Bangalore shook up the standings by crushing Rajasthan Rajasthan Royals by 112 runs. The victory vaulted their net run rate from the depths of -0.344 to a much-safer 0.166. From hell to heaven. They are currently fifth with 12 points - best placed among three other teams with the same points, and hence with the best chance of making the playoffs.

While Faf du Plessis has spearheaded their campaign with the bat - he is comfortably the tournament's highest run-getter so far - RCB's powerplay numbers with the ball stand out this season. They have the most wickets (30) among all sides in that phase - and the best average (18.46) - while also having the joint-best economy rate (7.41). Mohammed Siraj has led the way on the bowling front.

RCB continue to be on the road - this will be their fifth successive away game - as they now face Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi international stadium. This will be the first meeting between the two sides this season, with SRH already eliminated from the playoffs race.

Heinrich Klaasen has been a bright spot for SRH - he is their top scorer with 326 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of over 170 - even as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mayank Markande have blown hot and cold.

If SRH happen to beat RCB, they could take a step towards lifting themselves off the bottom of the table. A loss for RCB would be a big blow for them in what is almost a must-win game for them: they can potentially fall to sixth, below Royals, whom they had thrashed to move up the table.

Form guide

Sunrisers HyderabadLLWLW (last five matches; most recent first)

Royal Challengers Bangalore WLLWL

Team news

Both Josh Hazlewood and Wanindu Hasaranga had missed RCB's last match due to niggles, and there has been no official update on them since.

Impact Player strategy

Sunrisers Hyderabad

SRH could continue using Anmolpreet Singh and left-arm quick T Natarajan as their Impact players - and swap them depending on whether they bat or bowl first - like in their last game, against Gujarat Titans.

SRH probable XII: 1 Anmolpreet Singh, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Aiden Markram (capt), 5 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 6 Sanvir Singh, 7 Abdul Samad, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Mayank Markande, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi, 12 T Natarajan

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik had made way for left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed after RCB completed their innings against Royals last match. Anuj Rawat took over the gloves, and Shahbaz wasn't required to bowl. But Karthik or Mahipal Lomror might continue to be substituted with a bowler.

RCB probable XII: 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Glenn Maxwell, 4 Mahipal Lomror, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Michael Bracewell, 7 Anuj Rawat, 8 Wayne Parnell, 9 Karn Sharma, 10 Harshal Patel, 11 Mohammed Siraj, 12 Shahbaz Ahmed/Vijaykumar Vyshak

The big question

Stats that matter

• After dismissing Wriddhiman Saha against Titans, Bhuvneshwar consolidated his position at the top of the most wicket-takers in the first over of an IPL game. He now leads with 25 wickets, and is joint second this season with five, along with Siraj.

• RCB's reliance on their top order is evident by the fact that No. 5 onwards, their batters have the lowest runs (443), and thus also the lowest average (15.82), among all teams this season.

• For a minimum of 25 balls faced from pace bowlers in T20s, Glenn Maxwell's strike rate of 96 and 105 against T Natarajan and Bhuvneshwar is his lowest and third lowest, respectively. Meanwhile, Maxwell has played more than double the number of balls (146) while batting at No. 4 this season, than he has while at No. 3 (64).

• SRH have won six games - including a Super Over victory - against RCB in Hyderabad. Their only loss was a rain-affected DLS defeat in 2015. Karn Sharma, who was then with SRH, will now be in the opposition camp.

Pitch and conditions

It should be hot and humid in Hyderabad on Thursday evening. The average score batting first this season there has been 172, and four out of six games have been won batting first.