RCB, SRH look to sustain winning momentum

After rectifying a defect or two in the engine room, both Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) are sprinting quickly on the points table in the IPL 2022, winning five and four respectively.
A win against SRH could potentially move RCB to the top while for Hyderabad, it is about finding a way through the mid-table traffic jam, reports Cricbuzz.
The RCB set-up will be brimming with confidence after recovering from a rather precarious position to edge past Lucknow Super Giants in their previous game. One of the positives from that game against LSG was the return of form of Faf du Plessis. After an impressive start against Punjab Kings, the RCB skipper managed just 66 runs in his next five. Just that he returned to form in RCB's seventh game with a crucial hand of 96.
Meanwhile, lower down the order, Shahbaz Ahmed has added some steel to RCB's flair. In a couple of pivotal alliances with Dinesh Karthik, he was the supporting ally. He also played a key role in the match-turning stand with Du Plessis. The all-rounder seems to have improved his ability against the hard length by bringing out horizontal-bat shots.
The other plus point was Josh Hazlewood's impeccable control through the course of LSG's innings. The pace bowler sprinkled wide yorkers with hard length and change of pace to finish with a four-for. There are still a couple of small kinks that could worry the think-tank - Virat Kohli's struggles is one of them.
Meanwhile, after floundering in their first two matches, SRH too have found the right pieces of the jigsaw. Rahul Tripathi and Aiden Markam have scored the bulk of the runs, and the middle order has been functioning well. After a rather quiet time in the IPL, Abhishek Sharma has found his groove at the top.
With the tracks offering some assistance for the pacemen, SRH have gone for pace-heavy attacks and it has worked for them, with T Natarajan, Umran Malik, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and co. all shining brightly at some point of time or the other. Despite not taking many wickets in the IPL so far, Marco Jansen too has added another string to the bow with his left-arm angle, bounce and a hint of movement.
What to expect: The forecast humidity is set to be high tomorrow (79 per cent in the night) and that could result in some dew. Even though sprays and the super-sopper have been used to manage the dew factor. Just like the recent trend, the team that wins the toss is set to field first. With the Brabourne stadium being relatively smaller in size, alongside good strips for batting, it could turn out to be a high-scoring game.