(Cricket news) Royal Challengers Bangalore are on roll this season, having won three matches in a row and have a chance to go to the top of the table. On the other hand, Chennai Super Kings are struggling to find any sort of momentum as Ravindra Jadeja is finding captaincy a tad difficult as they are looking to get that elusive victory which will hopefully kick start their season.
For CSK something needs to click in this year's IPL, last season’s orange cap winner Ruturaj Gaikwad is struggling to find his form this season. For Chennai, the opening partnership hasn't clicked, batting through the middle has been very mediocre, the ability to take wickets in the powerplay is missing and the spinners have lacked wicket-taking edge, so all in all the need of the hour is a collective lift in form. The injury to Deepak Chahar was a big blow to them as they don’t have another experienced fast bowler who can take wickets at regular intervals. The big story line going into the match would be the match-up of Ravindra Jadeja vs Glenn Maxwell who has dismissed him 6 times in 50 deliveries.
RCB will be without Harshal in the game against captain du Plessis' former side, as he left the bubble due to the demise of his sister. It is not known yet when he will return. In order for him to play again he will have to undergo a three-day quarantine. RCB have most of their bases covered as last match even out form Anuj Rawat scored a brilliant 70 runs which helped his side get their third consecutive victory. David Willey early on gives them a favorable match-up against Ruturaj Gaikwad, who is yet to survive past the PowerPlay and has shown susceptibility against left-arm pace. The RCB middle order will play a crucial role when it comes to chasing big totals as all three batsmen (Dinesh Karthik, Glenn Maxwell and Shabaz Ahmed) are in good form.
Pitch and weather report: DY Patil pitches have been the most unpredictable as we have seen high scoring as well as low encounters in this venue. One thing is a given, that dew will play a major part in the second half of the innings so the trend of winning the toss and bowling first will continue. The temperature is going to hover around 33 degrees with no possibility of rain.
Interesting facts:
- Virat Kohli is 52 runs off getting to 1000 runs against CSK
- Ravindra Jadeja has picked 23 wickets in 28 matches against RCB
- In the absence of Deepak Chahar, CSK have managed to pick just one PowerPlay this season
- Moeen has been dismissed twice by Glenn Maxwell in four innings and averages just 5.5 against him with a strike rate of 73.
- Dhoni has scored 51 off the 28 balls against Mohammed Siraj and is yet to be dismissed by the pacer.
- Dinesh Karthik has a strike rate of 155 and 159 against Dwayne Bravo and Jadeja but he has been dismissed three times each by them
Also read: Williamson and bowlers guide SRH to comfortable victory over GT
Probable XI for CSK:
1 Robin Uthappa, 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 3 Moeen Ali, 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 Shivam Dube 6 Ravindra Jadeja (capt), 7 MS Dhoni (wk), 8 Dwayne Bravo, 9 Dwaine Pretorius 10 Chris Jordan, 11 Mukesh Choudhary/Tushar Deshpande
Probable XI for RCB:
1 Faf du Plessis (capt), 2 Anuj Rawat, 3 Virat Kohli 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Shahbaz Ahmed, 7 David Willey, 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Siddarth Kaul, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Akash Deep
