Bengaluru: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will look to dust themselves up from the devastating outing in Kolkata on Sunday night as they face Sunrisers Hyderabad, who seek first away win in the Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Tuesday.
Pursuing Kolkata Knight Riders’ lowly total of 131 on Sunday, RCB, boasting the star troika of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle, were floored for 49 all out in 9.4 overs — IPL’s lowest ever total, losing the match by 82 runs at the Eden Gardens.
The defeat was RCB’s fifth in seven games and left them languishing at the bottom of the table. As RCB skipper Virat Kohli admonished his batsmen, he also said that the team needed to move on, leaving behind the poor show.
“After the kind of half that we had, we thought we could capitalise and chase it down. Reckless batting. I can’t say anything at the moment. It was that bad. This is just not acceptable,” said a visibly annoyed Kohli, who himself scored a golden duck.
“We need to forget it and move forward. We’re a much better team. We got 200 plus in the last game. I’m sure everyone realises what they’ve done wrong. You have to come out, show intent and back yourselves. I’m sure we won’t bat like that again in the tournament,” he added.
“We’re going back home for a couple of games. We’ve got back-to-back games, need to try and win those to get some momentum.”
In the game against Hyderabad, Royal Challengers batsmen will also face tough test. Hyderabad, currently at the third spot with four wins, have in-form bowlers like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Siraj and Moises Henriques.
In their last match, this bowling line-up had Rising Pune Supergiant on the ropes, defending a total of 176/3. But SRH were blown away by Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s 34-ball 61 not out.
It was defending champions SRH’s third consecutive away loss and they will need to deliver a disciplined performance against RCB. All of SRH’s four wins have come at home and they need to quickly solve the away puzzle.
At this juncture, RCB, who will need to pick themselves up mentally, may be the best side to face.
The likes of David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson, Yuvraj Singh and Henriques will fancy themselves at the batting-friendly pitch of the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Yuvraj Singh, who was dropped against Pune for having scored just 96 runs this campaign, will also aim to rise to the occasion.
Against them, RCB bowlers Samuel Badree, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sreenath Aravind, Tymal Mills and Adam Milne will need to raise their game.
Catch the match
Royal Challengers Bangalore v Sunrisers Hyderabad
Venue: Bengaluru
Start time: 6.30pm UAE