Mumbai: Defending Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will look to record their first win of the season, when they take on in-form Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in match 22 of Indian Premier League (IPL) here at DY Patil Stadium on Tuesday.
The two teams have gone head to head 29 times, with the CSK taking 19 wins and Bangalore have nine wins, in addition to a no-result.
The defending champions had a poor start of the tournament, having lost all the four matches so far this season. RCB, on the other hand, had lost their campaign opener against Punjab Kings but it bounced back with 3 wins on the trot.
Chennai have never lost four at the start of the season. But in this ten-team tournament, they are already in a situation where another defeat could all but end their season.
There haven't been many positives for the CSK in the batting department, besides Ambati Rayudu and Moeen Ali's a decent outings. Skipper Ravindra Jadeja is yet to bring his three-dimensional A-game for which he is known for.
Young Ruturaj Gaikwad had a miserable season so far. He will have to up his game in order to give a solid start to his side. All-rounders Moeen Ali and Shivam Dube, who have played a fine knock, will have to take more responsibility, when they face the potent RCB bowling attack.
In the bowling end, apart from veteran pacer Dwayne Bravo, CSK bowlers have been off the mark. The availability of Josh Hazelwood might add some positive to Chennai's bowling line-up.
RCB, on the other hand, have in-form top order but it will expect a lot more from their skipper Faf du Plessis. With Anuj Rawat's six hitting prowess and return of Glenn Maxwell, who was highest run-scorer for Bangalore in the previous edition, have bolstered their top four.
Moreover, they have some of the best finishers available, with likes of Dinesh Karthik, in the middle order.
Bowling have been the forte for the Challengers so far, with the likes of Wanindu Hasaranga, David Willey and Mohammed Siraj in their line-up. However, they suffered a blow as Harshal Patel has left the bio-bubble due to personal reasons. Siddarth Kaul will likely to make his way in for Patel.
Chennai Super Kings: Ravindra Jadeja (c), Adam Milne, Robin Uthappa, Moeen Ali, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (wk), Chris Jordan, Subhranshu Senapati, Dwaine Pretorius, Mukesh Choudhary, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Dwayne Bravo, Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mitchell Santner, Hari Nishanth, N Jagadeesan, Prashant Solanki, KM Asif, Simarjeet Singh, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Maheesh Theekshana, Bhagath Varma
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mohd. Siraj, Suyash Prabhudessai, Chama Millind, Aneeshwar Gautam, Karn Sharma, Siddharth Kaul, Luvnith Sisodia, David Willey, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dinesh Karthik, Josh Hazlewood, Shahbaz Ahmed, Anuj Rawat, Akash Deep, Mahipal Lomror, Fin Allen, Sherfane Rutherford, Jason Behrendorff. (UNI)
