Social media predictions: Can RCB cause an upset against SRH tonight?

After another frantic weekend of IPL action, the fortunes of the teams, as well as the points table, has witnessed considerable turnaround. MI registered a much-needed win and teams like CSK and SRH have consolidated their top positions in the points table. No team’s chances of making it to the play-offs have been hit harder than RCB after their dismal showing against CSK. As things stand, all the remaining matches for RCB are virtual knock-outs, you lose and you are out of the tournament.

With the back against their walls literally, Virat & Co face up to the mighty SRH at the latter’s home ground. SRH is currently sitting pretty at the top of the table, thanks to their bowlers who have shown tremendous form throughout the competition. Rashid Khan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have put in match winning performances and no team has figured out yet the way to handle them effectively. On the other hand, bowling has been the pain point for RCB in this year’s IPL and poor bowling, especially in the final overs, is the reason why they have lost so many matches. With a batting line-up boasting of the likes of Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers, RCB fans will be hoping that their team will come up on top against the exceptional bowling of SRH. Such sentiments are palpable on social media too as RCB fans have taken up Facebook and Twitter to hail their batsmen. SRH fans too are not left far behind as they are also vocal about their bowlers. Most of the conversations on social media surround –

•  Will Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rashid Khan maintain their impressive form against RCB?
• Can Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers nullify the SRH bowling threat?
• Can the RCB bowlers come up with a good show tonight?

What does social media say?

Social media results seem to favour RCB and the Visibility index shows that the RCB fans are more upbeat about their side’s chances against the much fancied SRH who are in a better position as far as the points table is concerned.

However, the Favorability index tells a different story. RCB is miles ahead of SRH with respect to the Trust index and this might be because of the presence of stalwarts like Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers who are almost put on a pedestal by the social media enthusiasts. As far as the Affinity index is concerned, SRH edges out RCB marginally as fans might have a liking towards the SRH side who have been consistent throughout the competition.

What are the fans saying?

Most fans believe that the main attraction of today’s game is the contest between the RCB batsman and SRH bowlers. While Twitter is flooded with support for RCB and their batsmen Facebook has seen a deluge of fans rooting for the bowling brigade of SRH. Most of the conversations on these platforms pertain to this battle between bat and ball and fans are curious as to who will come out on top. Fans are also happy to see Bhuvneshwar Kumar back in action after an injury lay-off and believe that he will end up getting maximum wickets in the match.

Which team will triumph today?

The venue of today’s match, Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, has witnessed some exciting matches in the past between the two sides and this match is expected to be highly competitive. SRH has a stellar home record at this ground and they are a better side than RCB on current form but social media metrics seem to favour RCB heavily mainly because –

• The presence of big names like Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers
• A must-win situation for RCB which will help them go all out for the win
• The batting line up of SRH which has underperformed quite a few times this season

Published in partnership with Talkwalker.

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