RCB vs SRH IPL 2024 Highlights: SRH win by 25 runs in a high-scoring game, RCB give a tough fight

Royal Challengers Bengaluru have given a valiant fight riding on Dinesh Karthik and skipper Faf du Plessis' knocks as they got to 262 and it's not often that you lose after getting those many runs on the board. Sunrisers prevailed in a run-fest with Travis Head becoming the player of the match.

Rohit Sharma's World Cup tease has ignited something in Dinesh Karthik as the ageless wicketkeeper batter has smashed two back-to-back fifties of 20-odd balls.

First in the 277 game and now in 287 match, skipper Pat Cummins has been outstanding with the ball. Everyone gets hit, even he did but he has stuck to his strengths of bowling hit-the-deck length and the hard lengths have helped him get wickets and he has gotten his third now.

With five wickets down, Mahipal Lomror and Dinesh Karthik took a few balls to get set before going for their shots and scored 46 runs in two overs to keep RCB in the hunt, just about.

Pat Cummins has ended whatever hopes RCB had left with two wickets in one over - of his opposition number Faf du Plessis, who was hitting well and Saurav Chauhan, who has been given enough chances by the team now. 

The most unfortunate way for a batter getting out is when the bowler gets his hand onto the ball on way to the stumps when the striker hits back to him and Will Jacks has been on the receiving end of the same. Luck and RCB...

Virat Kohli smashed at 210 and got out after scoring 42. However, he may have done his job given RCB need to keep going.

RCB have begun outstandingly well as both Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli went after everything and helped their side get off to a 79-run powerplay with both of them scoring at over 200 strike rate.

It is a difficult chase but Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli have to stay positive and give RCB a 70-80-run powerplay to have any chance of even coming close to SRH's score.

Sunrisers Hyderabad have broken their own record of the highest total in the IPL, having smashed 287 runs on the board, which is second highest total in a T20 match.

Yash Dayal bowled a slower wide fuller ball, almost perfect as per the plan and Aiden Markram could only get it as far as the short third man. Two wickets in quick succession and a hope for a comeback was trashed in seconds and the dreaded siren went off, for a no-ball.

Lockie Ferguson on his RCB debut has gotten his second wicket in the form of Heinrich Klaasen after dismissing Travis Head, however, he has gone for 51 runs too in his four overs. SRH now three down.

Heinrich Klaasen has been handed the steering by Travis Head, who ripped into RCB's bowling and the South African has done something similar with a 23-ball half-century.

Travis Head has done his job and now left for the likes of Heinrich Klaasen and Aiden Markram to do the rest of it. A 39-ball century and Head has single-handedly put SRH in the driver's seat.

Fourth fastest century in IPL, the second fastest against RCB, the fastest for an SRH batter and the first-ever T20 ton for Travis Head. The Australian has landed in the IPL and broken and achieved a few records.

Reece Topley has gotten the breakthrough for RCB sending back Abhishek Sharma for 34. Abhishek just chipped towards backward square leg in the deep but straight to the hands of the fielder.

Sunrisers have gotten past hundred runs on the board, just 8th over into the game with Abhishek Sharma's six on the first ball of over bowled by Vijaykumar Vyshak.

Travis Head has gone berserk, absolutely berserk having smashed five sixes and three boundaries already as he completed a 20-ball fifty inside the powerplay itself.

Another day, yet another pasting in the powerplay for the RCB bowlers as Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma have begun in a scintillating manner for the Sunrisers. Despite adding Lockie Ferguson to the line-up, RCB bowling doesn't look sharp and will need an inspirational spell from someone to keep a check on the scoring.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Umran Malik, Anmolpreet Singh, Mayank Markande, Glenn Phillips, Rahul Tripathi

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Suyash Prabhudessai, Anuj Rawat, Swapnil Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Karn Sharma

Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan

Playing XI: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis(c), Will Jacks, Rajat Patidar, Saurav Chauhan, Dinesh Karthik(w), Mahipal Lomror, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Reece Topley, Lockie Ferguson, Yash Dayal

The square boundaries will be 57 metres and 64 metres with 69 metres straight. There is live grass on the surface, but it is patchy and the wicket is probably dry which means the spinners will have a big role to play and RCB have gone in with both part-timers in Will Jacks and Mahipal Lomror. Despite all of that, Aaron Finch said that chasing will be better and RCB captain Faf du Plessis has gone in with that option.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru have won the toss and opted to field first saying that the surface has been a bit slower throughout the season but reckoned that chasing is the best option there. 

Finally, what everyone has been waiting for - Lockie Ferguson, the Kiwi pacer - will make his debut for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, his fourth franchise in the IPL having played for Rising Pune Supergiant, Kolkata Knight Riders and the Gujarat Titans.

Many expressed their reservation regarding Sunrisers Hyderabad's decision of handing Pat Cummins the captaincy because of how he has done for Australia in the other two formats. The reason for reservation was mainly because of two reasons, one that Cummins had never led a side in the T20 format and that he isn't a starter for Australia in the T20 line-up. However, under him SRH has looked a completely different team from the one that was pretending to be one in the last couple of years. The players have bought into the aggressive approach and Cummins himself has stuck to his strengths with the ball and rotated the bowlers nicely to get the results in his side's favour.

RCB dropped Cameron Green in the last game and brought in Will Jacks and it may be time for them to drop their other Aussie, Glenn Maxwell, who has looked like a shadow of himself in this season. Maxwell also hurt his finger in the last game and could be rested and RCB will need to bolster their bowling as well because the current one is not working at all, and if you needed a reason, Mumbai Indians chasing 197 in 15.4 overs against them last Thursday should be enough.

It's not often that the objective of a team is as clear and as simple as Royal Challengers Bengaluru's on Monday - just win, no other option. Obviously, every team wants to win going into each and every game but RCB are in a position where they have no other option. Welcome to our live coverage of the RCB vs SRH match from the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.