Pune: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will be locking horns with their nemesis Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League match here at MCA stadium on Wednesday.
This will be the second match between the two teams in the 2022 season. In their last face-off, CSK handed a 23-run defeat to RCB.
Chennai are seated ninth on the points table with three wins from nine outings, whereas Bangalore are placed fifth with five wins and as many losses.
Robin Uthappa and Shivam Dube will look to replicate their performances from their last encounter against RCB, when Dube played a scintillating 95-run knock and Uthappa scored stunning 88 runs to take CSK to a massive total of 216. Ruturaj Gaikwad's 99 and Devon Conway's unbeaten 85 against Sunrisers Hyderabad are the positive signs for the Super Kings' shaky top order.
Maheesh Theekshana and Mukesh Choudhary are the bankable options in their bowling line-up. Theekshana has claimed a four-fer and Ravindra Jadeja picked up three wickets against RCB in their first encounter of the season.
RCB top order have showcased a dismal show so far as they have failed to pile up runs in the powerplay. Virat Kohli has come to his fiery form in RCB's game against Gujarat Titans which the newcomers won by 6 wickets. Youngster Rajat Patidar has shown some spark and will have to contribute more along with Glenn Maxwell to reduce the dependence on lower order. Dinesh Karthik has played some gritty innings but at this stage of the tournament he will need to do much more.
Bowling-wise, Mohammad Siraj and Wanindu Hasaranga along with Josh Hazlewood and Harshal Patel have showed a decent form and will be backed to punish CSK batters.
Squads:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Josh Hazlewood, Shahbaz Ahmed, Anuj Rawat, Akash Deep, Mahipal Lomror, Finn Allen, Sherfane Rutherford, Jason Behrendorff, Suyash Prabhudesai, Chama Milind, Aneeshwar Gautam, Karn Sharma, David Willey, Rajat Patidar, Siddharth Kaul.
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (wk/c), Ravindra Jadeja Moeen Ali, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Dwayne Bravo, Ambati Rayadu, Robin Uthappa, Mitchell Santner, Chris Jordan, Adam Milne, Devon Conway, Shivam Dube, Dwaine Pretorius, Maheesh Theekshana, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Tushar Deshpande, KM Asif, C Hari Nishaanth, N Jagadeesan, Subranshu Senapati, K Bhagath Verma, Prashant Solanki, Simarjeet Singh, Mukesh Choudhary. (UNI)