Internet Desk: Royal Challengers Bangalore will start as overwhelming favourites against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League final at Chinnaswamy stadium on Sunday. Both RCB and SRH will be eyeing a maiden IPL title. The Challengers will have the experience of playing in an IPL final twice in the past in 2009 and 2011, while Sunrisers’ best finish was a playoff berth in their debut season in 2013.
Royal Challengers witnessed a topsy-turvy campaign initially and were in a real spot of bother at one stage. Kohli with his brilliant batting and leadership won their last four games on a trot to qualify for the playoffs. The Royal Challengers will have momentum with them as they take on Sunrisers at home.
The Indian test captain is going through a purple patch and seems to be enjoying the best form of his career so far. He is the highest run-getter in the tournament, amassing 919 runs from 15 games, which includes six fifties and four centuries with 113 being his highest score.
South African De Villiers is also having a great run with the bat. He is the third highest scorer in the league with 682 runs under his belt with, including one century and six half-centuries.
In fact, in the Qualifier 1 at the Chinnaswamy stadium here, RCB, while chasing 159 for the win, were struggling at 29 for five at one stage with Kohli witnessing a rare failure this season.
It was AB de Villiers’ knock of 79* that took the Royal Challengers out of trouble. He put on a match-winning 91 runs for the seventh wicket with Iqbal Abdullah (33) to take his side into the final.
Besides Kohli and de Villiers, the big-hitting Chris Gayle would also be eyeing a big knock on Sunday after indicating his return to form in the last few games.
Credit for RCB’s turnaround should also go to the team’s not-so-experienced bowling attack, which was under fire for major part of the tournament.
RCB’s turnaround in bowling was made possible by leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who is the second highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 20 scalps from 12 games.
The late entry of Chris Jordan also helped RCB in containing their rivals in the death overs.
Australian Shane Watson too has served the team well with the ball, picking up 20 wickets from 15 games so far this season.
Sunday’s match would give RCB an opportunity to avenge their 15-run loss to Sunrisers in the last clash between the two teams.
Just like the Challengers, Sunrisers too would be banking on their skipper Warner, who has led from the front to ensure a maiden IPL final berth.
Sunrisers will be coming into the final on the back of two high-profile wins — first against two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders by 22 runs in the Eliminator and then against Lions in the Qualifier 2.
Warner has been in an explosive form for Sunrisers. He is leading by example and has so far amassed 779 runs from 16 games with eight fifties, next only to Kohli in the run-getters’ list in IPL 9. The match-winning 93 not out against Lions in the Qualifier 2 Friday night is Warner’s highest score.
Warner produced a majestic innings to single-handedly lead Sunrisers Hyderabad into the IPL final by securing a four-wicket win over Lions.
Chasing a tricky 163, Sunrisers overhauled the target with four balls to spare as Warner anchored the chase with his responsible 58-ball knock, embellished with 11 four and three sixes.
Besides Warner, Sunrisers also have the likes of Shikhar Dhawan (473 runs), the experienced Yuvraj Singh, Moises Henriques, Deepak Hooda, Naman Ojha and big-hitting all-rounder Ben Cutting in the batting department.
But it is Sunrisers bowling which has struck gold for the team this season.
In fact, it won’t be wrong to say that Sunday’s final will be a contest between RCB’s batting and Sunrisers bowling unit.
Sunrisers will be relying heavily on their pacers, who played a stellar role in defeating RCB here in the league stage, to deliver the goods again.
Seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar seems to have found his mojo back and is leading the wicket-takers’ chart with 23 wickets from 16 games, while Bangladeshi pacer Mustafizur Rahman (16 wickets from 15 matches), has also lived up to his skipper’s expectations whenever he has been handed the ball.
And Sunrisers would be hopeful that Mustafizur will be fit for the IPL final after sitting out of last night’s match owing to a hamstring niggle.
The duo along with Barinder Sran has not let Sunrsiers feel the absence of veteran Ashish Nehra, who left midway to undergo a knee surgery.