RCB to begin IPL campaign in search of elusive first title

Virat Kohli's side will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in their opening game on Monday in Dubai.
Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli
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Every year in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), look like a tough team to beat. But their fans do not need reminding that it has been twelve years without a trophy for the team despite having international superstars like Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.

In contrast, there is little discussion about Sunrisers Hyderabad going into the tournament, but they have been in the playoffs every year since 2016 when they defeated RCB in a high-scoring final in Bengaluru.  

The two teams will face off in their opening game on Monday, looking to start the 2020 IPL campaign on the front foot. 

Virat Kohli's side will be looking to improve their all round game this season to complement their hard-hitting batting lineup. Kohli knows his search for a maiden title will remain incomplete if the team doesn't stop leaking runs at the death.

The team has recruited fresh bowling options including Chris Morris and Dale Steyn, who briefly sparked the nightmarish 2019 IPL campaign. 

RCB also boasts of a potent spin unit. Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal will again be the key as he has been over the past seasons with Washington Sundar, Pawan Negi, Adam Zampa and Moeen Ali lending more options.

The addition of Australian limited overs captain Aaron Finch to the squad gives the star-studded batting lineup more firepower. Expectations are also high from highly rated young opener Devdutt Padikkal who might get the nod to open alongside Finch.

But their opponents led by David Warner and his dangerous opening partner Jonny Bairstow will be looking to lead their side to their first triumph in the IPL since the 2016 season. 

The formidable opening duo of Warner and Bairstow, that shattered multiple records including the highest opening partnership in IPL history against RCB last season, will hope to emulate the exploits. Sunrisers also have the batting prowess of Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Mitchell Marsh and Fabian Allen to call upon.

Sunrisers' blind spot also lies in the lack of depth in their batting order. The franchise has invested in youngsters like Virat Singh, Abhishek Sharma, Priyam Garg, and Abdul Samad and the management is in the hope that one of them could become the vital cog in the middle order.

A team that is known for its depth and variation in bowling, Sunrisers' core unit remains unchanged. Bhuvneshwar Kumar will spearhead the pace department with Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul and Basil Thampi playing secondary roles.

Armed with the presence of top T20 bowler, Afghanistan leggie Rashid Khan and no.1 all-rounder in the format Mohammad Nabi, who was in terrific form in the recently-concluded CPL (Caribbean Premier League), Sunrisers have one of the best spin bowling attacks in the tournament. They also have left-armer Shahbaz Nadeem.

At the helm of both sides are Australians, Sunrisers have appointed Trevos Baylis, who guided England to their maiden ODI World Cup title last year, as coach, while RCB has placed its faith in Simon Katich to guide them.

The two teams will be playing in the same conditions as Sunday night's thrilling contest between Delhi Capitals and Kings XI Punjab but there is little known about the strategy and combinations either team will adopt.

Devdutt Padikkal

Whether Devdutt gets to open with Finch in the game against SRH remains to be seen. However, he had shown early promise as a 17-year-old in KPL 2017, when he hit a 53-ball 72 against Bengaluru Blasters.  

While the journey was smooth from U-14 to U-16, he didn’t get any runs for one whole year playing U-19 cricket for Karnataka, reminisces his coach Mohammed Naseeruddin. 

"There was an U-19 league game for the club (KIOC). That game he got a risky hundred. I think his journey started again,” he says. 

Devdutt got selected in the India U-19 squad for the tour of Sri Lanka in 2018, and later dazzled in the Cooch Behar Trophy scoring 829 runs. This got him picked for the Karnataka Ranji side and he didn’t disappoint scoring a 77 on debut against Maharashtra.

His 2019 season began with the KPL where he bagged the Emerging Player award. Thereafter, his run-scoring appetite continued unabated as he topped the charts in both the Vijay Hazare 50-over tournament and the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s. He also took his state to the Ranji Trophy semis last year. 

With PTI inputs

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