A trend seemed have picked up in the UAE - win the toss, opt to bowl. Chennai Super Kings started the trend and won the game, Delhi Capitals beat Kings XI Punjab last night in Dubai, although in a Super Over. And on Monday, Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss in the IPL 2020 opener at the Dubai International Stadium against Royal Challengers Bangalore. But can SRH complete the trend with a win against RCB?
"We will bowl. There is a bit of dew around. It was an interesting game last night. We know it's going to get a bit tired towards the end. We have the balance in the side," SRH captain Warner explained his choice to bowl first.
SRH will head into the game without Kane Williamson or Mohammad Nabi. Mitchell Marsh has been picked as the all-rounder, who will bat at No.5 after No.4 Vijay Shankar. Meanwhile, another U-19 star, Priyam Garg, has been handed his debut cap.
"We have made a few changes, to the setup and the team as well. We feel relaxed and balanced. One idea was to create more leaders in the time. The guys have worked really hard during the lockdown period in whatever way they could. They have taken a lot of responsibility in these three weeks as well. Lot of batting happened in the last three wickets," said RCB skipper Virat Kohli.
RCB left out Parthiv Patel to fit in Devdutt Padikkal as their opener alongside Aaron Finch, however, Australia's Josh Philippe will be the wicketkeeper for RCB. Moeen Ali and Chris Morris have also been left out.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): David Warner(c), Jonny Bairstow(w), Manish Pandey, Vijay Shankar, Mitchell Marsh, Priyam Garg, Abhishek Sharma, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan
Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI): Aaron Finch, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli(c), AB de Villiers, Josh Philippe(w), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Dale Steyn, Yuzvendra Chahal
