The in-form Sunrisers Hyderabad are up against the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday (May 7) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.

Hyderabad are at the top of the points table with 7 wins and are pretty much assured of a pace in the final four. However, the Bangalore unit has to win all their games from here to stake a claim in the final four and SRH can prove to be an unsurmountable opponent at their own backyard gauging from the brand of cricket they are playing.

SRH shall also be aiming at a top-2 finish which gives the opportunity to have an off day at the Play Offs after playing so well in the league stages. This makes RCB’s job all the more difficult, since neither of the two teams is low on ambition but given the nature of SRH wicket and the way RCB batsmen bundled out for a below par total against CSK, clearly it is advantage SRH at the start of the game, who have won their previous 4 fixtures in the tournament.

Also it would be interesting to see how Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli handle their respective teams. While Williamson has been impressive, it helps that he has one of the finest bowling attack, some of Virat’s unorthodox moves haven’t yielded results for the team.

Alex Hales at the top of the order for SRH has solved a lot of problems for the team, especially when Shikhar Dhawan has looked out of touch after the injury. However, the Orange Army would expect him to get into his zone before the knock out stage because Dhawan can single handedly win matches for the team. Kane Williamson has done his job without making much noise about it as he so often does for his side.

Virat and AB de Villiers failed to deliver against CSK and apart from Parthiv’s 50 at the top and Tim Southee’s intent at the end of the innings, RCB batting collapsed. It is important that the 2 stars provide the team a cushion of some extra runs so that they can try and win the match with ease. When it comes to chasing there is hardly anyone better than Virat Kohli.

SRH bowling has been top class this season and Williamson would be hoping something similar tonight at their home ground. Bhuvneshwar is back and he along with Sandeep Sharma at the top, plus the spin duo of Rashid Khan and Shakib in the middle overs save a lot of trouble for Hyderabad.

RCB will need some wickets from Yuzvendra Chahal, who has bowled well but hasn’t really been amidst the wickets this season. Umesh Yadav has had a good season and would like to continue the same rhythm and form for the remainder of the season.

Here is another interesting encounter from Hyderbad. Broadcast strats at 20:00 Hours IST.