IPL 2020 | Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Chennai Super Kings - Statistical Preview
MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, two of the most popular Indian cricketers of this generation, will lock horns as RCB take on CSK in Match 25 of the IPL 2020 in Dubai. MS Dhoni's side generally proves too much for Kohli's RCB, let's see how their rivalry goes this time with CSK looking down and out.
Form Guide
Royal Challengers Bangalore - L, W, W, L, W
RCB must be sighing relief at the fact that unlike KXIP they came out as victors in two close games against SRH and Mumbai Indians respectively. As a result, with three wins in five games, Virat Kohli's men are doing much better than one expected. With the captain himself returning back to form, Devdutt Padikkal doing a great job opening the batting, and AB de Villiers at his best, RCB's batting will only get stronger with the likely return of Chris Morris, who will also give a boost to their lacklustre death bowling. The Reds' bowling can turn good especially against a struggling CSK batting line-up with quality spinners like Chahal, Sundar and Zampa at their disposal.
Chennai Super Kings- L, W, L, L, L
With two wins off their first six games, MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings are finally turning out to be disaster, albeit, two years later than what one expected. This season, CSK's middle-order batting has done a total bottle up job and even MS Dhoni hasn't been able to turn heads for good things. The only silver lining to their batting has been the great form of Faf du Plessis and also Watson returning back to his best. The bowlers have also started doing well for the Men in Yellow and if their batting comes good, it won't be a surprise if Chennai trump RCB, which has been the case generally.
Key Batsmen
Royal Challengers Bangalore- Devdutt Padikkal
With the addition of Aaron Finch, RCB's top-order was supposedly meant to get stronger while it has been the case but not particularly due to the Aussie skipper as the Karnataka opener Devdutt Padikkal has been stealing the show consistently. The southpaw has made three fifties in five outings and made fifties in all the of RCB's victories against SRH, MI and RR respectively. His strokeplay, temperament and maturity have drawn him lofty comparisons but after failure in the last game, he would look to continue doing his best as things can often go wrong much faster than one expects especially for a youngster.
Chennai Super Kings- MS Dhoni
With a tally of 794 runs, an average of 41.79 and a strike-rate of 143.58, CSK skipper, MS Dhoni loves tonking the RCB bowlers. Given how poor RCB bowlers are at the death, it won't be a surprise if MS puts his best foot forward against the Reds and play a knock that will help him put his team on the right track and also gain confidence personally after he hasn't looked in the best of form, after missing out on cricket action for a long time after the 2019 World Cup. MS will look to lead from the front, like he has done for years and do his best.
Key Bowlers
Royal Challengers Bangalore- Yuzvendra Chahal
Yuzvendra Chahal has been the RCB's go-to-man in the IPL for ages now. After bowling at the graveyard of Chinnaswamy, the leg-spinner is really enjoying his time in the UAE and has taken eight wickets in five games with an economy under 8, which is brilliant. Given CSK's middle-order's travails against spinners, he would love to take full advantage of the apparent weakness especially Dhoni and Jadhav have struggled against spinners thus far. Chahal is key to RCB's victories and he will again need to bamboozle the CSK batsmen if Kohli's men have to win the game.
Chennai Super Kings- Sam Curran
English all-rounder Sam Curran has been the leading wicket-taker for Chennai Super Kings in the 2020 IPL. The swing bowler has taken seven wickets in six games and showed signs of returning back to his best against Kolkata knight Riders after going wicket-less in preceding games against Punjab and Hyderabad respectively. He picked up crucial wickets of Eoin Morgan and Dinesh Karthik in the last game and ended with figures of 2/26. Not only he has done well with the ball but has played useful cameos with the bat as well.
Predicted XI
RCB- Finch, Padikkal, Kohli (C), AB de Villiers (WK), Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Sundar, Udana, Chahal, Siraj, Saini
CSK- Watson, du Plessis, Rayudu, Dhoni (C & WK), Jadhav/Gaikwad, Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Piyush Chawla, Chahar, Shardul
Venue: Dubai International Stadium, Dubai.
When to Watch: Oct 10- 7:30 PM IST
Where to Watch: Star Sports Network and Hotstar (in India)