Big names key in high-stakes contest

Friday, May 15, 2015
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)

One point separates Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore, who both occupy the middle portion of an exceedingly amorphous table, and who both have two games left to play. Neither absolutely must win two out of two to reach the playoffs, but life will become rather more complicated for the team that loses their meeting on Friday.

Going by form, this is a hard-to-predict clash that promises excitement. Sunrisers are on a three-match winning streak, and Royal Challengers have won five of their last seven completed games. On paper, Royal Challengers possess the better of two menacing top orders and Sunrisers the better of two mediocre middle orders, and while Mitchell Starc is the form bowler of the IPL and the most obvious wicket-taking threat from either side, Sunrisers perhaps possess the deeper bowling attack with more experience of the conditions in Hyderabad. Both teams prefer batting first.

Given the stage of the season, the result of the game may well hinge on the bigger names. In a match full of them, who will step up and make the decisive intervention?

Sunrisers Hyderabad WWWLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Royal Challengers Bangalore LWWLW

The last three times Royal Challengers have batted first, they've posted totals of 200, 226 and 235. They've not been nearly as dangerous while chasing, though. They've lost two of their last three games while batting second, and the other one - a rain-shortened game against Kolkata Knight Riders - could have gone either way. Sunrisers, meanwhile, have batted first in their last three matches and won all of them, but have only won one match out of five while chasing. The toss, therefore, might play a vital role.

Bangalore's struggles while chasing have coincided with their top three getting out relatively early. The new-ball contest that pits Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Trent Boult/Dale Steyn against Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli could prove an important sub-plot in the narrative of the game.