With 14 points in their kitty, RCB are currently at the second spot in the IPL points table with seven wins from 10 games, while five-time title holders CSK are already out of the race to the playoffs, and are languishing at the bottom with mere four points, after a rather lacklustre season.
(Photo: IANS)
With the road to the IPL 2025 playoffs virtually sealed, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will look to complete a rare season double against a hapless Chennai Super Kings (CSK) that offers fans in what could perhaps be a final face-off between Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni when the two sides square off at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday.
With 14 points in their kitty, RCB are currently at the second spot in the IPL points table with seven wins from 10 games, while five-time title holders CSK are already out of the race to the playoffs, and are languishing at the bottom with mere four points, after a rather lacklustre season.
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While RCB will be eager to keep the momentum going with another win in what has been yet another season of mixed fortunes at home, CSK will be happy to end the season on a high with a couple of wins, and avoid the ignominy of finishing at the bottom.
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For each side to achieve their goals, the onus will be on their icons, Kohli and Dhoni — synonymous with the respective brands RCB and CSK. Kohli has looked in red-hot form of late, slamming four fifties in his last five innings and pushing for Orange Cap with 443 runs. The star batter will be eager to produce another little masterclass to help RCB inch closer to the play-offs.
Besides Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal has also been in decent touch at No.3 with a couple of fifties in his last two innings, and the team would expect the youngster to continue in the same vein. However, the form of Phil Salt has been a concern recently, and the Bengaluru franchise will be backing the Englishman to rediscover his mojo heading into the business end of the tournament.
Similarly, all eyes will also be on RCB skipper Rajat Patidar, who has been due for a substantial knock. On Saturday, he has a great chance to get his rhythm back against a CSK bowling unit that has mostly blown hot and cold with the exception of pacer Khaleel Ahmed and spinner Noor Ahmad.
In contrast, the CSK batting line-up that has witnessed collective failure during the season, will be challenged by a disciplined RCB attack, comprising the likes of Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma.
Plagued by injuries to key players, CSK will take a lot of positives from the batting performances of Sam Curran, Ayush Mhatre, Dewald Brevis and Shivam Dube in the recent outings. Dhoni has been effective at the death, but a troublesome knee doesn’t make it any easier for the 43-year-old to construct the innings with quick singles and doubles anymore.
Dhoni has scored brisk 30s this season, which has helped CSK get to competitive totals, but the inconsistency of the top-order has been a major area of concern for the side this year.
Squads:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Rajat Patidar (c) Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Jitesh Sharma (w), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Suyash Sharma, Lungi Ngidi, Liam Livingstone, Swapnil Singh, Manoj Bhandage, Rasikh Dar Salam, Nuwan Thushara, Jacob Bethell, Mohit Rathee, Swastik Chikara, Abhinandan Singh.
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (c, wk), Shaik Rasheed, Ayush Mhatre, Deepak Hooda, Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Matheesha Pathirana, Anshul Kamboj, R Ashwin, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Jamie Overton, Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tripathi, Shreyas Gopal, Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Mukesh Choudhary, Nathan Ellis, C Andre Siddarth, Vansh Bedi.
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