Jitesh leads RCB and opts to bowl; Head back for SRH

A Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) side led by Jitesh Sharma asked Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to bat first on a fresh Lucknow track. Jitesh said they wanted to use the early moisture in the surface. Phil Salt was fit and named in the XI, while regular captain Rajat Paitdar was only fit to bat but not to field so he was named in the substitutes list.

SRH welcomed back Travis Head, who missed their last match because of illness, Abhinav Manohar and Jaydev Unadkat. Mohammed Shami, who had also missed the last match, was named in the substitute list so he could come in when SRH bowl.

This was an important match for RCB, who had already qualified for the playoffs, but were in contention for a top-two finish, which can give them cushion in the playoffs. RCB were second on the table with 17 points, but had a game in hand over Gujarat Titans (GT), who had 18 points. The third team in the race for a top-two finish was Punjab Kings (PBKS), tied with RCB on 17 points from 12 matches.

Sunrisers Hyderabad 1 Travis Head, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Ishan Kishan (wk), 4 Nitish Reddy, 5 Heinrich Klaasen, 6 Aniket Verma, 7 Abhinav Manohar, 8 Pat Cummins (capt.), 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Eshan Malinga, 11 Jaydev Unadkat
Impact sub options: Mohammed Shami, Harsh Dubey, Sachin Baby, Zeeshan Ansari, Simarjeet Singh

Royal Challengers Bengaluru 1 Phil Salt, 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Mayank Agarwal, 4 Jitesh Sharma (capt. & wk), 5 Romario Shepherd, 6 Tim David, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Yash Dayal, 10 Lungi Ngidi, 11 Suyash Sharma
Impact sub options: Rajat Patidar, Rasikh Salam, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh