Royal Challengers Bangalore have won five of their last six matches after starting with a defeat. Sunrisers Hyderabad have hit back with four consecutive victories following two losses to begin with. Royal Challengers are placed second on the IPL 2022 table; Sunrisers are fifth from one game fewer. What better time, then, for them to face each other

But Royal Challengers' fans would want more from their retained stars Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell, and also opener Anuj Rawat, all three of whom are expected starters.

Bhuvneshwar and Malik, the yin and yang of SRH's' attack

As returns of 8* (2), 26 (11), 55 (34) and 23 (11) suggest, Maxwell has been on the move even if for brief spurts. He has a strike rate of 193, despite facing just 55 balls so far. And while Kohli showed encouraging signs with a 41 not out to start the season, he has managed just 78 runs in the next six innings; in three of those, he has fallen for single-digit scores. Ravi Shastri, his coach with the national side till the other day, suggested recently that Kohli was "overcooked"; Kevin Pietersen said Kohli's "brain was completely fried". But only Kohli knows what it really is. What should help him is that he remains a certain starter for Royal Challengers.

Kohli and those around him cannot bank on Dinesh Karthik and Shahbaz Ahmed to keep rescuing them. The timely return to touch of their captain Faf du Plessis has been a welcome sign, though.

As for Sunrisers, they don't seem to be putting a foot wrong at the moment. It's almost as if the two early defeats have woken them up from a slumber. They are yet to lose more than three wickets in a match since those games. All four victories have come while chasing, as they have hunted down totals with time, overs and wickets in hand.

In contrast to their opponents' top-four troubles, Sunrisers' entire top five has led them to four successful chases in a row, with at least two - if not more - significant contributions in each match.

Rahul Tripathi at No. 3 seems to have found fifth gear easily, cracking 161 runs at a strike rate of 189 in these four games. The platform set by the left-right pair of Abhishek Sharma and Kane Williamson at the top has helped those who follow, with their middle-order left-right duo of Nicholas Pooran and Aiden Markram ensuring safe passage to the close.

Markram, in particular, has hit his stride, and unleased the T20 player inside him after a below-par summer for South Africa. Their second-highest run-getter after Tripathi, Markram has bashed 190 runs at a strike rate of 150 so far - that includes two unbeaten half-centuries - and has been dismissed only once in five innings.

(With inputs from agencies)