MUMBAI- Umran Malik’s raw pace and Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s consistency will be put to test against Dinesh Karthik’s explosive batting and the finesse of Faf du Plessis when Sunrisers Hyderabad clash with Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, here on Saturday.
Malik has caught everyone’s attention with his fiery deliveries this season. His tear-away pace has even troubled established batters such as Shreyas Iyer.
Alongside senior teammate Bhuvneshwar, the 22-year-old formed a match-winning partnership to defeat Punjab Kings by seven-wickets in their previous outing.
Sunrisers, who are targeting a top-4 position, also have yorker-specialist T Natarajan and South African Marco Jansen in their ranks. Jansen has also been able to tease batters with his angles and variations.
But the seasoned Du Plessis and Karthik have pummelled the best in the business.
The new RCB skipper roared back to form with a fine 96 as he anchored his team’s innings after the top order once again collapsed against Lucknow Super Giants.
However, the veteran South African batter missed out on a much deserved maiden IPL hundred in the 18-run win on Tuesday.
All eyes will once again be on Virat Kohli, who would be eager to get out of the rut of low scores.
Their bowling unit, however, is their strong suite, which was not the case in the previous seasons.
In Josh Hazlewood, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj and Wanindu Hasarnaga, RCB have four match-winners, while Maxwell and Shahbaz Ahmed have also played their part well.
They will be up against a SRH batting unit where every batter has taken the responsibility to take their side over the line.
Skipper Kane Williamson is also back among runs while Rahul Tripathi has shown he too can win matches with the bat when he struck a 37-ball 71 against KKR.
And if the top order fails, the duo of South African Aiden Markaram and swashbuckling Nicholas Pooran are there to finish off matches or set huge targets.
A win for Sunrisers will elevate them to the top-4 while a victory for RCB will help them grab the top spot.
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