It feels like ages since Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) last played a game in the IPL. In the last 25 days, the three-time finalists have shown up only once on May 3 against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in a humdinger of a game and Virat Kohli, who once had Orange Cap on his head, has seen it changing heads four times this week with Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan and Suryakumar Yadav all in the running. Even Mitch Marsh left him behind in the race with a whirlwind Ahmedabad ton.
However, LSG by beating the Gujarat Titans have provided both RCB and the Punjab Kings a lifeline and a golden opportunity to finish in the top two. The Titans can now only get to 20 points while both RCB and Punjab can go up to 21. Hence, a win on Friday against the Sunrisers Hyderabad will calm some nerves around in the RCB camp given they have had to sit all week watching teams get knocked out and qualify since last Sunday.
With Rajat Patidar and Phil Salt both fit, RCB will hope that Virat Kohli, playing for the first time since announcing his Test retirement, can continue from where he left off. Anyways, a world record is waiting for Virat Kohli in the wings on Friday. Kohli needs 67 runs to become first cricketer in T20 history to score 9,000 runs for one team, having played all his franchise cricket for RCB.
Most runs in T20 cricket for one team
8933 - Virat Kohli (RCB), in 269 innings (2008-2025)*
6036 - Rohit Sharma (MI) in 229 innings
5934 - James Vince (Hampshire), in 194 innings (2010-2024)
5529 - Suresh Raina (CSK), in 195 innings (2008-2021)
5314 - MS Dhoni (CSK), in 238 innings (2008-2025)
Sunrisers Hyderabad, on the other hand, will have Travis Head and the Orange Army would want to cause some damage before finishing their season off in Delhi, a couple of days later. Given how the Lucknow surface played earlier this week for the LSG vs SRH game, runs are expected aplenty.
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