(Cricket news) Super Kings are now set to play four games away from home. CSK will be short of fast bowlers as the likes of Deepak Chahar, Sisanda Magala, Simarjeet Singh and Ben Stokes are all injured while Matheesha Pathirana has only recently recovered from Covid recently. Super Kings had opted against rushing Pathirana into action in their home game against Rajasthan Royals but now they might include him in the playing, although Dwaine Pretorius could be another option.
RCB have also been hit with injuries this IPL, but despite that their bowling looks much better than the Super Kings. Mohammed Siraj has been the best bowler in the powerplay while local boy Vijaykumar Vyshak has seamlessly transitioned into the XI while Harshal Patel has also found some form recently. Glenn Maxwell has bowled just one over this season but could be the key factor against a left-hander-heavy Super Kings line-up. Josh Hazlewood has joined the Royal Challengers and will complete his rehab in India but it is unlikely that he will be unavailable for selection for Monday’s fixture.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
RCB are likely to continue with Anuj Rawat as their Impact Player. He could probably replace one of the bowlers when they chase but there’s a temptation to play Suyash Prabhudessai also
Possible bat-first XI: 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Faf du Plessis (capt), 3 Mahipal Lomror, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Shahbaz Ahmed, 6 Anuj Rawat, 7 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 8 Harshal Patel, 9 Wanindu Hasaranga, 10 Wayne Parnell/David Willey, 11 Mohammed Siraj
Possible bowl-first XI: 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Faf du Plessis (capt), 3 Mahipal Lomror, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Shahbaz Ahmed, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Harshal Patel, 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Wayne Parnell/David Willey, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Vijaykumar Vyshak
CSK
CSK’s own Malinga Pathirana is likely to replace the injured Magala in Super Kings’ XI. While Stokes is still nursing a minor toe injury as he is unlikely to play on Monday. Mike Hussey, suggested that MS Dhoni would manage his knee injury “as best as he can along the way”. If Super Kings bowl first, they could start with Akash Singh and bring in Ambati Rayudu in as Impact Player during their chase.
Possible bat-first XI: 1 Devon Conway, 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 3 Ajinkya Rahane, 4 Moeen Ali, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Ambati Rayudu, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 9 Maheesh Theekshana, 10 Matheesha Pathirana/Dwaine Pretorius 11 Tushar Deshpande
Possible bowl-first XI: 1 Devon Conway, 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 3 Ajinkya Rahane, 4 Moeen Ali, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 8 Maheesh Theekshana, 9 Matheesha Pathirana/Dwaine Pretorius, 10 Tushar Deshpande, 11 Akash Singh
