Hyderabad, May 22 (IANS) Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) won the toss and elected to bat first against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in a clash of two in-form sides in Match 67 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Friday.

RCB captain Rajat Patidar returned to the playing XI as the lone change, replacing Jacob Bethell, who has picked up a finger injury. SRH go into the match unchanged from their last outing.

SRH captain Pat Cummins said they still have a long shot at finishing in the top two, and putting on a big score would help them have a go at that. RCB are currently on 18 points from nine wins in 13 matches, while Sunrisers Hyderabad have 16 points from the same number of matches. A win for SRH will open up an opportunity to move up to the second spot based on Net Run Rate (NRR)

“I think it’s a long shot finishing top two, but we just want to give it a crack. Want the boys to enjoy tonight,” Cummins said at the toss.

Their decision to bat first seems justified as the pitch looks bereft of grass, and it looks consistent and even. The pitch is likely to bounce and carry, making it possible for the batters to hit through the line.

Playing XIs:

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, R Smaran, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins (capt), Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain

Impact substitutes: Aniket Verma, Praful Hinge, Liam Livingstone, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Venkatesh Iyer, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (capt), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rasikh Salam, Suyash Sharma, Josh Hazlewood

Impact substitutes: Tim David, Kanishk Chouhan, Swapnil Singh, Abhinandan Singh, Jordan Cox.

–IANS

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