IPL 2017 Player Battles: Top 4 player encounters to look for in Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Sunrisers Hyderabad match

#4 Yuvraj Singh vs Samuel Badree

Yuvraj will be looking to take on the spinners in the middle overs

The middle order has been a persistent problem for SRH and assuming Samuel Badree does not open the bowling today, he would be given the opportunity to run through it. There is one hurdle, though – Yuvraj Singh.

Towards the end of the previous IPL, we saw glimpses of Yuvraj’s flair but this season, for a good start, he might have to go big against Badree.

Badree is a regular in the national team in the shortest format but has very little IPL experience. On the other hand, Yuvraj has been one of the most valuable players in the IPL.

Badree is not a big spinner of the ball but he is usually right on the money and Yuvraj will be tested by the West Indian’s accuracy and length.

Watch out for those calculated lofts. It would be interesting to see if Yuvraj goes after the West Indian early to upset his rhythm or carefully gets through his overs and attacks other RCB bowlers. Badree, meanwhile, will attempt to force the southpaw into mistakes through tight wicket-to-wicket bowling.

Traditionally, RCB have struggled with their bowling while SRH have found themselves overly dependent on Warner for runs. This opening match might break those stereotypes. It is not difficult to imagine that the outcome of today’s match will boil down to these key contests in the end.