Make sure you read
Southee picks Hales early
But he didn't start the proceedings; Moeen did, on his IPL debut. Conceded just 4 runs, Umesh followed it up with a 10-run over and then Southee struck, with the third ball of his first over. A cross-seam ball that skidded through Hales and took the top of the stumps. 15/1
Toss and teams
RCB opt to bowl.Virat Kohli has made 2 changes: Brendon McCullum is dropped for Moeen Ali, while Manan Vohra comes in for M Ashwin. Kane Williamson's SRH side is unchanged.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Alex Hales, Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson(c), Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, Siddarth Kaul, Sandeep Sharma
Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI): Parthiv Patel(w), Manan Vohra, Virat Kohli(c), AB de Villiers, Mandeep Singh, Moeen Ali, Colin de Grandhomme, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal
Team speculations
Our correspondent, Ramakrishnan, has a flood of updates about what he's seeing at the venue. We list them below, as-is and listed chronologically:
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Siddarth Kaul, Yusuf, Rashid, Shakib, Sandeep rolling their arms over. Captain Kane and Manish getting throw downs. VVS now has a chat with Manish, maybe some tips being passed on.
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Washington and Woakes having a bowl on the side wicket. Spotted Corey bowling in the nets behind a few minutes before. Not sure if he's getting a game.
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Dan Vettori testing out the centre now. Maybe he just wants to see how damp it is.. Last game it definitely was damp to start with.
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Mo Ali now driving a few at the throwdowns
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Parthiv with his gloves on, no sign of QdK. Southee and CDG marking their run-ups.
Pitch and weather
MS Ramakrishnan, our correspondent at the venue, says it's a pleasant evening in Hyderabad ... err .. at 40 degrees! He's also seen the pitch from a distance, and here's what he makes of it: "By the way, the pitch from up here seems to be similar to the one user in the last game. Gentle grass cover, no real sheen and that generally means it's not going to be a very good batting pitch."
Here's Brett Lee's pitch report: "There are some nice cracks and that should give some purchase for the spinners. There's plenty of sheen on the surface and that only means it will turn a lot more, but still a good batting surface"
Numbers to know:
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Kohli has got out to Sandeep five times in a space of 31 balls but has managed to score at a rate of 174.19 against him.
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Head to Head (overall): SRH 5 - 4 RCB (one tie)
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Head to Head (at the venue): SRH 3 - 1 RCB (one tie)
Building up to the clash
That RCB's batting is a bluff is a lie. Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Brendon McCullum batting together is enough evidence to rattle an opposition, which, today, happens to be Sunrisers Hyderabad -- the stingiest of them all in IPL 2018. It'll be interesting to watch RCB try and make sense of a slow Deccan pitch. Or they just might detonate and take the pitch apart like a rag doll.
That's the thing with RCB; you just don't know.
" A Super Over in 2013, a last over ending in 2014, a dramatic rain-curtailed boundary-stepping thriller in 2015 and high-scoring encounters in 2016 and 2017 - Sunrisers Hyderabad versus Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium has always been a highly anticipated contest in the Indian Premier League. "
^^ MS Ramakrishnan's preview, where he's heavy on throwbacks, is a must-read. You can read it in full here. And if you are a pixel person, here are Zaheer Khan, Joy Bhattacharjya and Gaurav Kapur previewing this contest.
For your reference, here's the points table for IPL 2018