Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have effectively played just one match in the last 25 days, with the tournament resumption clash against Kolkata Knight Riders being washed out due to rain. A win on Friday against the Sunrisers Hyderabad will take RCB to the top of the points table.
Sitting on the sidelines waiting for the rains and inclement weather to subside can be a tricky affair. Playing after a couple of weeks, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) spent the whole Saturday evening watching the heavens open up in Bengaluru and just not stop. It ended up being a washout and now in 25 days, the three-time finalists have played just once in the ongoing IPL. With the forecast predicting zero per cent rain in Lucknow, RCB will be keen to get their campaign restarted and back to business, given it’s crunch time and a win on Friday will catapult them to the top of the table.
The heavy rains in Bengaluru meant that the IPL Governing Council was proactive in changing the schedule and moved the Friday game to Lucknow given that RCB will take on the Lucknow Super Giants in their final league stage clash at the BRSABV Ekana Stadium and Sunrisers Hyderabad were already at the venue having beaten the home team at the start of the week.
Travis Head will be available for Sunrisers after missing the Lucknow game due to COVID-19 while skipper Rajat Patidar and Phil Salt too, will be available for RCB after recovering from an injury and illness, respectively. Sunrisers might make a straight swap of Head with Kamindu Mendis, who limped off after sustaining an injury in the last game, while RCB might weigh their options of either playing Jacob Bethell at No 3 and an Indian pacer or introduce Mayank Agarwal straightaway with Lungi Ngidi retaining his spot for his final game of the season.
My Dream11 team for IPL 2025 Match 65, RCB vs SRH
Virat Kohli (vc), Travis Head, Rajat Patidar, Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Reddy, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Jitesh Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (c), Harshal Patel, Harsh Dubey
Probable Playing XIIs
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Jacob Bethell/Mayank Agarwal, Rajat Patidar (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Lungi Ngidi/Rasikh Salam, Yash Dayal, Suyash Sharma
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Abhinav Manohar/Sachin Baby, Nitish Reddy, Pat Cummins, Harshal Patel, Harsh Dubey, Zeeshan Ansari, Eshan Malinga