Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 28 (ANI): Ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season opener between defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), former Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin said that this time around, the 300-run mark will be breached in the season.

Ashwin was speaking on his YouTube Channel, 'Ash Ki Baat'. RCB and SRH, two power-packed batting units spearheaded by Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, will be locking horns at Bengaluru. The last time both these teams collided at Bengaluru, it resulted in SRH scoring the highest IPL total ever, posting 287/3. In reply, RCB did not give up either despite regular fall of wickets, with a 28-ball 62 by skipper Faf Du Plessis and a 35-ball 83 by Dinesh Karthik taking RCB to 262/7 from a spot of bother at 122/5.

Speaking on 'Ash ki Baat', Ashwin said that batting-friendly wickets, some explosive batting line-ups and some weak bowling units could help the 'Mission 300' be achieved once and for all.

'Mission 300 is truly on. This time, I have a feeling from within that the 300-run mark will be crossed. I've been looking at some of the batting line-ups, some of the bowling line-ups are also not upto the mark. So, if the wickets are good, then there are chances of 300 being scored,' he said.

Over the last three seasons or so, the IPL has slowly evolved into an absolute run-fest, with several batting total records and powerplay records being broken, particularly by SRH. With teams getting an extra batter with the 'Impact Player' rule, they have more liberty to go hard right from ball one. A total of 12 250-plus scores have been seen in IPL so far, with only one of them coming in 2013, RCB's 263/5 against Pune Warriors India powered by a 175* from Chris Gayle.

The 2024 edition was the harshest one for bowlers, as eight 250-plus scores meant that bowlers were reduced to being throwing machines. Last season, two 250-plus scores came up, both scored by SRH. The first being 286/6 against Rajasthan Royals (RR) at Hyderabad, driven by an explosive Ishan Kishan ton and later 278/3 against Delhi Capitals at Delhi, thanks to a 39-ball 105* by Heinrich Klaasen.

Speaking about the opening match, Ashwin reflected on the absence of two premier Australian bowlers, SRH skipper Pat Cummins and RCB's Josh Hazlewood, saying that RCB needs Hazlewood more than SRH needs their skipper because of his movement, swing, death overs excellence and experience.

'As much as SRH need Pat Cummins, RCB need Josh Hazlewood even more. Hyderabad has a lot of power in this game. When there is even a little bit of seam movement and swing, Josh Hazlewood executes excellently. Even in death, he is a guy from whom everyone can learn. It is not as if he bowls only yorkers under pressure; he bowls the hard lengths, yorkers, mixes it up. Hazlewood is not there for this game, which is a very very big loss for RCB,' Ashwin added. (ANI)