Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, Eliminator - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

 Hello and welcome to the live blog of the IPL 2020 Eliminator between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

RCB are in the playoffs for the first time since 2016. In that season, they lost the final to SRH. They are also sweating over the fitness of Chris Morris. Tough road ahead? Definitely. However, they've shown they are capable of going the distance this time. Another factor to consider is the form. SRH have won three games on the bounce but RCB have lost four in a row. Will that hurt Kohli's men?

On the surface, it would appear that David Warner's side is surer of its footing. SRH have built up considerable momentum through the last few games, one of which included a clinical dismantling of RCB at Sharjah. Wriddhiman Saha, an inspired selection at the top, has been a revelation and has freed Warner from his shackles. Shahbaz Nadeem has developed a carrom ball, Sandeep Sharma has added miles to his reputation as a slayer of PowerPlays and Rashid Khan has been, well Rashid Khan. Playing in their fifth straight Playoffs, against an out-of-form opposition that seldom finds itself in this territory, must feel like an opportunity begging to be grabbed.

Yet it is not as if SRH far outgun their opponents. RCB enjoyed a similar run in the first half of the tournament and have match winners littered through their line-up. At any point in the last four years, Virat Kohli could have been said to be in the form of his life. But it has been a strange season for him, a strike-rate of 122 offsetting an aggregate of 460 runs. The RCB captain has grappled to find the tempo in the middle-overs and the flaky lower middle-order has left AB de Villiers to do much of the heavy-lifting at the death.

If RCB are to make any kind of push - even a heroic failed one - they'll need to do so right at the top of either innings. They may have a number of disadvantages going into this meeting but the fleetingness of a T20 contest and the two red-letter names in their line-up can minimise all of them. However, any knockout game they play will also be shrouded by their history of underachievement at this tournament. Despite the dramatic dip in form, RCB appeared a happy, relaxed outfit for having ended a three-year drought to make the final week of the tournament. But they are now up against a side handed a new lease of life and one that's least fazed by sudden-death cricket.