RCB vs SRH highlights, IPL 2021: SRH beat RCB by 4 runs in a nail-biting contest

That's an outstanding first over by Mohammed Siraj. Only 2 runs from it, surely should have been 1 but for that unnecessary throw in the last ball. But good early signs for RCB. 

Jason Roy and Abhishek Sharma have walked out to open the batting for SRH. Roy will take the strike and it looks like, it will be Mohammed Siraj with the new ball for RCB.

1: Ab De Villiers is 1 six away from completing 250 IPL sixes.

88: runs Glenn Maxwell needs to complete 2000 IPL runs.

77: runs Devdutt Padikkal needs 77 more runs to become the 5th highest run getter by surpass Rahul Dravid.

2: wickets Harshal Patel (26 wkts) needs to become Indian bower to have most wickets in an IPL season, he will surpass Jasprit Bumrah- 27 wkts in IPL 2020.

2: wickets Rashid Khan (389) will be become 4th Highest wicket taker in T20s surpassing Lasith Malinga (390).

There is more reasons that to forward to this match if you are an RCB fan that just a chance to finish in top two. If RCB beat SRH today in Abu Dhabi, it will be there 100th victory in the IPL. Now that is a milestone, Virat Kohli would like to achieve pretty sooner than later. 

1 Virat Kohli (capt), 2 Devdutt Paddikal, 3 Srikar Bharat (wk), 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 AB de Villiers, 6 Dan Christian, 7 Shahbaz Ahmed, 8 George Garton, 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Mohammed Siraj

1 Jason Roy, 2 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Priyam Garg, 5 Abhishek Sharma, 6 Abdul Samad, 7 Jason Holder, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Siddarth Kaul, 11 Umran Malik

Right this is a bit of surprise and a rarity too. Both Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad have decided to go with an unchanged playing XI. 

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli wins toss and opts to bowl first against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Abu Dhabi. 

26 wickets in 12 matches, it is safe to state that medium pacer Harshal Patel is having a dream season and is also one of the major reasons why RCB's had a pretty good season so far. Harshal has been doing a great job using the slow tracks here in the UAE with his cutters and slowers. And if the pitch report by Nick Knight is anything to go by then it this Abu Dhabi track is likely to assist him a quite a lot. 

'The overhead conditions are superb - this is the driest pitch we have had so far, there are some cracks developing, we have had hot weather and dry winds, so this might help cutters and spinners a bit more. Variations are the key, you'll get more grip off the surface,' reckons former England opener Nick Knight, in his pitch report.

Former India opener Gautam Gambhir feels RCB will have it easy against SRH and put a lot of pressure on Chennai Super Kings for the top-two finish. Former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris feels CSK is likely to finish in the top two but he too backed RCB to beat SRH today. Can the Hyderabad-based franchise prove them wrong? We are 15 minutes away from the toss. 

Glenn Maxwell has been superb for RCB. He has made for AB de Villiers' dry run in this season. The Australia all-rounder has 11 fifties in the IPL and five of those have this season while playing for RCB. He will have a different challenge while facing Sunrisers Hyderabad's potent weapon Rashid Khan. The Afghanistan leg-spinner is one of the best T20 cricketers going around. We can expect an exciting contest. 

Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson are one of the best of friends both on and off the field but when it comes to cricket, the New Zealand and SRH skipper have always had the upper-hand over the Indian captain. Kohli would like to believe that he can break the jinkx and beat a Williamson-led side. 

In the surface area, not much but dig deep, there's a lot to gain for the SRH players. This will be their last opportunity to impress the management ahead of the mega auction next year. The young cricketers of SRH like Abhishek Sharma, Abdul Samad, Umran Malik, Priyam Garg need to give their all in order to possibly find a buyer next year, if not SRH then any of the other nine franchises. 

Devdutt Padikkal has already made a name for himself in the RCB camp. He needs 77 more runs to become the 5th highest run getter by surpass Rahul Dravid. However, the left-handed opener doesn't have a very good record against SRH. Padikkal has scored 73 runs in 4 matches against SRH at an average of 18.25 and strikes at 105.79 which is the lowest strike rate among all the teams.

The first encounter between RCB and SRH in IPL 2021 seems like ages ago. It was in Chennai in April and RCB had beaten SRH by 5 runs a in a closely-fought contest that went down to the last ball. RCB had posted 149 for 8 batting first. SRH, in reply, could only manage 143 for 9. 

It's a close contest between these two sides. In the 18 times that these two sides have face each other, SRH have won it 10 times while RCB have won in 8 times. Virat Kohli would like to make it 9 with a win today.

RCB have already ensured playoff qualification and SRH are knocked out. Does that mean this is a dead rubber? This is the IPL folks! No chance of a match being a dead rubber. If RCB win the next two then they will have a great chance to finish in the top two and have two cracks at reaching the final. For them, today's match against SRH is very important. 

Hello and welcome to the live coverage of the IPL 2021 match between Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kane Williamson-led Sunrisers Hyderabad in Abu Dhabi today. RCB have every season to hope for a top-two finish but the big question is, can the battered and bruised SRH stop them?