The Indian Premier League will have a new champion either one of Royal Challengers Bangalore or Sunrisers Hyderabad, who will come up against each other in the Final of VIVO IPL 2016, will be crowned champions tonight.
Royal Challengers Bangalore are in the final, courtesy of their win in Qualifier 1 on Tuesday. Their 4-wicket win was pretty much representative of how their season has panned out. Chasing 159, RCB were reduced to 68-6 and pretty much out of the contest, before AB de Villiers took control and drove his team over the finish line. RCB’s season has been pretty much similar; after the matches on May 8, they were down in the dumps – with just two wins in eight matches and sandwiched between Rising Pune Supergiants and Kings XI Punjab, two teams who eventually finished in the bottom two places. Then came the turnaround; RCB rose from the ashes, won five of their remaining six matches, finished second in the standings, and then won the Qualifier 1 against the Gujarat Lions to charge to the Final.
Sunrisers Hyderabad were top of the table with three days remaining in the league stage of the competition. Two defeats in three days meant they slipped from the top and sneaked in to the playoffs as the third-placed team. SRH have found their bearings once again; they sent Kolkata Knight Riders packing, defeating the two-time champions by 22 runs in the Eliminator, before David Warner’s solo effort against the Gujarat Lions in Qualifier 2 ensured a date with RCB in the Final.
On the basis of what one has seen so far in the tournament, RCB v SRH is a battle between the best batting line-up and the best bowling line-up.
(IPL website)
