Venue: Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai
Time: 3:30 PM IST
Average score at venue (1st inns): 175
Win percentage while batting first: 40%
Pitch conditions:
- The pitch at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai is expected to favour the batsmen as it has throughout the competition this year, even though it has produced two low-scoring matches on the trot. It remains to be seen how much the fast bowlers are able to generate off the surface under the sun, having done a fine job under lights in the last two games.
- In the previous match played here, Hyderabad recorded a 9-wicket victory after bowling out Bangalore for an embarrassing 68. Before that, Delhi had skittled Punjab for a paltry 115 to record a 9-wicket win.
- The pacers will be expected to cause more damage at this venue since they have a higher wicket-share percentage of 61.98% compared to the spin bowlers getting 38.02%.
Weather prediction:
It will be a hot and bright day in Mumbai on Saturday with the mercury hitting a high of 34°C constantly for a few hours in the afternoon. The temperature will drop down to close to 30°C towards the end of the first match on Saturday, with the humidity levels ranging between 55-70%.
HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD (overall):
Matches played: -
Gujarat won: -
Bangalore won: -
No result: -
Top 3 players from Gujarat: Wriddhiman Saha, Rashid Khan, Hardik Pandya
Top 3 players from Bangalore: Shahbaz Ahmed, Josh Hazlewood, Glenn Maxwell
Top picks for H2H/WTA contest (top 5 players each):
Top 5 players from Gujarat: Wriddhiman Saha, Rashid Khan, Hardik Pandya, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tewatia
Top 5 players from Bangalore: Shahbaz Ahmed, Josh Hazlewood, Glenn Maxwell, Faf du Plessis, Harshal Patel
Q & A:
Fantasy tips and tricks: Should I pick more bowlers, batsmen or all-rounders?
Given the way the last two matches here have panned out with teams batting first scoring 115 and 68 respectively, it will be a wise idea to have seam bowlers from both the teams who have been among wickets of late. At the same time, batsmen who are in-form and can shift gears without much trouble between being aggressive and being cautious will be the key to constitute the fantasy cricket playing XIs.
Fantasy tips: From which team should I pick more players in my XI? Which team is stronger?
Gujarat are sitting at the top of the points table for the Indian T20 Cricket League 2022 having recorded 7 wins from 8 matches played so far and they are currently on a 4-match winning spree. Gujarat have a total of 14 points and a Net Run Rate (NRR) of 0.371, making them the firm favourites to win this contest against Bangalore, who have not only lost their last 2 matches but also have some of their key players such as V Kohlii horribly out of form. Bangalore have lost a total of 3 matches out of their last 5. Gujarat also have the knack of finding match-winners within their playing combinations, something which no other team has been able to do so far in the Indian T20 Cricket League 2022.
MORE INFORMATION: The Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai had been a venue which was famous for its assistance to batsmen and having no support whatsoever for the fast bowlers and for the spinners. However, the nature of the wicket seem to have changed a little over the last couple of matches, given that seam bowlers have been able to extract a lot from the surface in terms of movement of the ball as well as generate swing which has troubled the batsmen. Therefore, seamers and pacers will have their tails up for this contest to be played on Saturday afternoon, but it remains to be seen how much the conditions will help them given that it will be a hot and humid day and half of the game will be played under the baking sun.
PLAYERS’ FORM: While Gujarat has been able to record the most number of wins among all teams on the back of all-round performances from various players, Bangalore have been struggling to find form as well as rhythm so far in the competition. V Kohlii has been struggling desperately for runs in the middle whereas the incumbent Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis has not been able to get any kind of consistency with the bat. In the bowling department, Bangalore can still match the skills of Gujarat but their batsmen will have to pull their socks up for this match.
Changes in squad (if any): NO
LIKELY XIs:
GUJARAT: Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Hardik Pandya (c.), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Abhinav Manohar, Rashid Khan, Alzarri Joseph, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammad Shami, Yash Dayal
BANGALORE: Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Suyash Prabhudessai, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Josh Hazlewood, Mohammad Siraj
FANTASY XI: Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Faf du Plessis (vc), Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya (c), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Shahbaz Ahmed, Josh Hazlewood, Mohammad Siraj, Wanindu Hasaranga, Mohammad Shami.
Devarchit Varma is a cricket writer and journalist with an experience of more than a decade, having worked at Hindustan Times (newspaper) and CricketCountry (website). Along with covering international and domestic cricket, he has also interviewed several current and former top players such as Rohit Sharma, Steve Smith, Dale Steyn, Michael Hussey, Jacques Kallis, Brendon McCullum, Shane Watson, Lasith Malinga and many more. He has also worked in other beats as a journalist in Bollywood (Reliance BigOye) and IT (SiliconIndia) industries.
Read All Articles >
