RCB looks to bounce back against strong SRH

Royal Challengers Bangalore will be looking to bounce back from a humiliating loss against the Kolkata Knight Riders when it takes on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Chinnaswamy stadium.

General view as rain falls before the start during match 29 of the Vivo 2017 Indian Premier League between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Sunrisers Hyderabad held at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, India on the 25th April 2017 Photo by Shaun Roy - Sportzpics - IPL

When you hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) can take some much-needed solace from this piece of wisdom when it takes the field against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SH) here on Tuesday.

RCB hit an all-time low on Sunday, when it was bowled out for 49 - the lowest total in IPL history. The listless show, which resulted in a 82-run loss to Kolkata Knight Riders, is sure to set the alarm bells ringing.

A shocked skipper, Virat Kohli, struggled to explain the collapse. "(This was) Our worst batting performance. It really hurts… It was reckless batting. I can't say anything at the moment - it was that bad. This is just not acceptable," Kohli said, at the post-match ceremony.

A scorecard filled with single digits makes for shocking viewing, especially when the side has the likes of Chris Gayle, A.B. de Villiers, Kedar Jadhav and Kohli in the ranks. With two wins and five losses, the home side sits at the bottom of the points table. The franchise found itself in a similarly bleak situation last year, before the squad willed itself all the way to the final. RCB needs yet another miracle run to make it past the league stage.

With three wins in seven matches, SH is in a marginally better position. The bowling attack has been well served by seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar (16 wickets), who holds the purple cap. Legspinner Rashid Khan (10 wickets) has befuddled opposition batsmen, with his clever variations. David Warner (282 runs, at an average of 56.4) is 18 runs away from becoming the highest run-scorer of the tournament.

Coach Tom Moody stated that his side will not take RCB lightly. "There is no doubt that RCB has some destructive players. We will be fools if we think we can show up tomorrow and expect a repeat of what happened at Kolkata. That is in the past now, and I'm sure RCB feels the same way," he said.

Moody said that Yuvraj Singh - he missed the previous fixture due to flu - and David Warner are both fit to play. Moody didn’t read too much into his side’s narrow defeat to Rising Pune Supergiant on Saturday. “We should have won, but we ran into a guy named M.S.Dhoni,” he said.