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IPL 2021: RCB will be brimming with confidence, writes Sunil Gavaskar

Mumbai - Sanju Samson's magnificent century was not enough to stop newly christened Punjab from pulling off a last-ball victory.

It's been an absolutely thrilling start to the greatest T20 league in the world. The performances have been out of the topmost drawer and have shown that when it comes to the competition nothing can be taken for granted till the final ball.

Sanju Samson's magnificent century was not enough to stop newly christened Punjab from pulling off a last-ball victory.

If Samson's innings was worth going miles to see what was equally impressive was the confidence of young Arshdeep Singh who held his nerve when others, the highly rated and better paid bowlers, lost theirs.

The angle that he created was tough even for the well-set Samson who was seeing the ball like a full moon on a dark night. Also impressive was how KL Rahul, the Punjab skipper, kept his cool even as his Rajasthan counterpart was hitting the ball as he pleased.

The trend was set in the first match itself where the match was decided with the final delivery of the match and we could be in for some more before the first week is done.

The Bangalore team started the move with their win against the defending champions Mumbai and now take on Hyderabad who will have to play much better than they did in their first game. With Jason Holder now out of quarantine, they will have the services of a top-class all-rounder, though they may still want to give Mohammad Nabi another chance.

Their batting order was much debated upon as was the Bangalore team’s in their first game and in this format, often it's the gut instinct that works more often than not.

What is important for the Hyderabad team is to improve its fielding and stop those boundaries by having their better movers patrolling them.

The single will invariably be stolen in the circle, but teams that save that extra run or two on the boundary win the close games. The catches matter, of course, and we have seen some being grassed especially in Mumbai, so that's an aspect teams will have to work extra hard on even as the hectic schedule of the tournament makes getting adequate rest also important.

Hyderabad can't really afford to start with two losses, so they will have to pull out all the stops against a Bangalore team that will be brimming with confidence after their win over the most feared team in the competition. (TCM)