IPL 2021, Preview: Rashid's Battle With Maxwell, AB To Take Centrestage

How Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) star batsmen AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell deal with SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) spinner Rashid Khan could be decisive in the Indian Premier League (IPL) m

In the previous game, they let Wriddhiman Saha, who had played some brilliant knocks towards the end of the previous season, open along with Warner and Bairstow came in at No.4. SRH will be concerned about their fast bowling. Both Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Sandeep Sharma went for too many runs against KKR.

Devdutt Padikkal will probably return to the top of the order for RCB. Padikkal was rested from the previous game following his recovery from Covid-19 and in his absence, RCB opened with captain Virat Kohli and Washington Sundar, who failed to get going.

The return of Padikkal, who was in great form in the Vijay Hazare one-dayers, bodes well for RCB. SRH's new-ball bowlers will have to get rid of Padikkal and Kohli quickly if they are to give their spinners some backing and freedom to bowl at RCB's hard-hitting middle-order comprising Maxwell and de Villiers.

RCB's spin bowling has been the weak link, unlike SRH, and Yuzvendra Chahal, who is having a poor run of form, will have to raise the bar. Chahal was wicketless against Mumbai Indians and gave away as many as 41 runs at an economy of 10.25.