Melbourne Renegades [L] and Brisbane Heat [R] (Source: Mike Owen/Getty Images and Matt Roberts/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)

Melbourne Renegades and Brisbane Heat will meet at the Simonds Stadium in Geelong in Match 2 of Big Bash League 2025-26 (BBL). The Renegades and the Heat finished sixth and seventh in the eight-team tournament last year, respectively.

Renegades skipper Will Sutherland will lead a strong core of players including Jake Fraser-McGurk, Josh Brown and Tim Seifert. The bowling lineup constitutes Jason Behrendorff, Andrew Tye and Gurinder Sandhu.

Nathan McSweeney will lead the Heat along with a ferocious Colin Munro and Matt Renshaw amongst others. Shaheen Shah Afridi will be the player to look out for as far as the bowling is concerned.   

Match Details

Match	Melbourne Renegades vs Brisbane Heat, Match 2, BBL 2025-26
Date and Time	Monday, December 15; 1:45 pm (IST)
Venue	Simonds Stadium, Geelong
Broadcast and Live Streaming Details	JioStar Network Channels and JioHotstar (app and website)

Simonds Stadium — Pitch Report

The Simonds Stadium has never hosted a BBL match previously. In the eight 20-over games played at the venue, five have been won by the teams batting first. Fast bowlers will be expected to generate movement off the deck. The pitch might slow down a touch as the game progresses.

REN vs HEA — Head-to-Head Record in T20s

Matches Played	22
Won by Melbourne Renegades	14
Won by Brisbane Heat	8
Tied	0
No Result	0
First-ever Fixture	January 12, 2012
Most-recent Fixture	January 18, 2025

REN vs HEA — Predicted Playing 11s Melbourne Renegades

Jake Fraser-McGurk, Josh Brown, Caleb Jewell, Mohammad Rizwan, Tim Seifert (wk), Will Sutherland (c), Hassan Khan, Jason Behrendorff, Andrew Tye, Fergus O’Neill, Gurinder Sandhu

Brisbane Heat

Max Bryant, Colin Munro, Nathan McSweeney (c), Matt Renshaw, Jimmy Peirson (wk), Jack Wildermuth, Hugh Weibgen, Xavier Bartlett, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Patrick Dooley, Liam Haskett

REN vs HEA — Probable Top Performers Probable Best Batter — Jake Fraser-McGurk

Jake Fraser-McGurkhas not been in the best of form of late, having surpassed the 30-run mark only  thrice in his last eight List A matches. The top-order batter is expected to break free and play a vital knock up top.

Shaheen Shah Afridiis expected to exploit the bowling-friendly conditions with the new ball and dismantle the top-order of the opposition with wickets inside the powerplay.

Shaheen Afridi (Source: Chris Hyde/Getty Images) Today's  Match Prediction: Team batting first to win the match