Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], April 15 (ANI): As the 2016 Indian Premier League (IPL) finalists Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) take on a highly-anticipated clash at Bengaluru, all eyes will be on team’s two respective finishers, Heinrich Klaasen and Dinesh Karthik.
Pat Cummins-led SRH will take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the latter’s home venue of M Chinaswammy Stadium. While SRH is in the fifth spot with three wins and two losses, RCB is desperately searching for wins and is at the bottom with a win and five losses.
During this game, the entries Klaasen and Karthik will be anticipated highly by fans. Both are playing a very difficult role for their teams, making sure that their batting finishes on a high note after the top order piles up runs.
Both batters are in two different phases of their careers. While one is his prime and a sought-after name in T20 league circuit, the other is in the twilight of his career and slowly transitioning to a full-time commentator. But despite that, Karthik’s hunger for runs, winning mindset and the need to continue playing itself is inspirational at 38 years of age, where most cricketers hang up their boots.
In five matches so far, Klaasen has made 186 runs at an average of 62.00, ending unbeaten twice. His strike rate is 193.75 during this season and it escalates to a massive 263.15 during the death overs of the innings. He has smashed two half-centuries and his best score is 80*.
While Klaasen has enjoyed support from Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram and other in-form batters, same cannot be said for Karthik. RCB’s batting line-up has not clicked well as a unit and most of the times, it is him and Virat who have done the heavy lifting.
Despite such responsibilties of carrying an off-colour batting line-up, Karthil has made 143 runs in five innings at an average of 71.50, ending unbeaten thrice. His strike rate is 190.66. He has scored one half-century, with the best score of 53*. His death overs strike rate this season is 243.90.
Both teams are extremely feared hitters of their team and can change the game within a matter of a few balls. Will Klaasen’s monumental run in T20 continue or will Dinesh accelarate RCB’s run flow and help then win? Only time will tell.
Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Abdul Samad, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan, Umran Malik, Washington Sundar, Mayank Markande, Rahul Tripathi, Glenn Phillips, Anmolpreet Singh, Upendra Yadav, Jhatavedh Subramanyan, Sanvir Singh, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Marco Jansen, Akash Maharaj Singh, Mayank Agarwal
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Squad: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis(c), Will Jacks, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Dinesh Karthik(w), Mahipal Lomror, Reece Topley, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Saurav Chauhan, Suyash Prabhudessai, Swapnil Singh, Rajan Kumar, Karn Sharma, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Mayank Dagar, Alzarri Joseph, Cameron Green, Anuj Rawat, Manoj Bhandage, Yash Dayal, Himanshu Sharma. (ANI)
