The battle lines have been drawn. The teams have had their peaks and troughs. There is, well and truly, a buzz in the air. You might be forgiven to think that the Indian Premier League (IPL) final had been preponed by a week. Except, this is not the case.
But the match on Saturday, perhaps holds significance just one notch below the summit clash as Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) take on Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in a southern showdown at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, to determine the fourth team to qualify for the IPL Playoffs next week.
To say that RCB – a team that was fighting for the wooden spoon in the first half of the tournament – have found a new lease of life in the second half would be an understatement. Their bowlers, bludgeoned by their passionate fans for their profligacy, have found renewed mojo and helped RCB stay in contention for a playoff spot.
Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal, Swapnil Singh and Karn Sharma, assisted by Cameron Green, have hit consistent lines and lengths in the second half of the tournament to ensure RCB stay nearer to the top four in the business end. While Virat Kohli has stood head-and-shoulders above the rest with the bat, it has been the showings of Rajat Patidar which has offered extra impetus to the RCB batting.
After an indifferent start to the tournament, the Madhya Pradesh right-hander has amassed four fifties in the last five innings, finding form at an opportune time for the franchise. RCB, however, will miss the services of batter Will Jacks in the crunch game and in his absence, the onus now would be on Glenn Maxwell to deliver the goods in a match of extreme importance.
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CSK have had a transitional season, with Mahendra Singh Dhoni handing over the captaincy reigns to Ruturaj Gaikwad. Expectedly, then, the pendulum has swung on both sides for the five-time champions who arrive, in Bengaluru, knowing a win would be enough to qualify for the Playoffs.
Gaikwad’s captaincy might still be in its infancy, but there is no doubt that the batter is blossoming. 583 runs in 13 matches at a strike rate of 141.50 with one hundred puts him just behind Kohli in the leading run-getters list for the season and he will hold the key again while facing the RCB new ball attack on Saturday.
Ever since getting picked in India’s squad for the T20 World Cup, Shivam Dube’s form has nosedived, with a mere 39 runs in the last four innings. The southpaw is no stranger to the Chinnaswamy stadium, having started his IPL career with RCB, and the men in yellow will expect a big score from him in a must-win clash. Their bowling has been the weak link owing to the absence of Matheesha Pathirana and Deepak Chahar, who have been out due to injuries. However, Simarjeet Singh emerged as a new hero in their previous encounter, taking 3 for 26 to help restrict the Rajasthan Royals to a sub-par score and the onus will be on him, again, to deliver the goods on Saturday.
Both teams will definitely have an eye on the skies as well and RCB will hope that the rain gods decide to arrive on another day as an abandoned game would be curtains for them as far as Playoffs qualification is concerned. A win for CSK will guarantee them a spot in the Eliminator and other results going their way, could also ensure they play Qualifier 1.
Saturday’s game has been touted as a farewell for more players than one. However, both teams would look to ensure that one of them has some more days to go in the tournament.
What: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Chennai Super Kings, Match 68, Indian Premier League 2024
When: May 18, 2024, 7:30 PM IST
Where: M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
RCB will enter the game with one forced change owing to Jacks returning to England and his place could, in all likelihood, be taken by Glenn Maxwell.
Likely Playing XI: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Cameron Green, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Swapnil Singh, Karn Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Lockie Ferguson.
Chennai Super Kings
CSK put in a clinical performance against RR in their previous game and will rely on the same XI to do the job on Saturday.
Likely playing XI: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wk), Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande, Mitchell Santner, Simarjeet Singh, Maheesh Theekshana.
QUOTE UNQUOTE
“Yeah you know very happy for him. He’s a bowler who basically bowled the fastest in our group. I think Eric has to get a lot of credit where Simarjeet is concerned, you know working with him consistently, drills after drills… waiting for the right moment. He got his chance and he grabbed it with both hands. Every team will like a bowler like Simar because he bowls with a lot of pace and he’s very aggressive by nature. Even against our own batsmen in the nets, sometimes I get scared with the way he bowls,”- CSK bowling coach Dwayne Bravo on Simarjeet Singh’s performances in the tournament so far.
“As I mentioned somewhere before, there were a lot of doubts about how he would come into this season, especially on the back of last season. Having the advantage of seeing him up and close as a friend, I knew what work he was putting in. A lot of people talking about ‘Oh he had a bad season, he’s doing a lot of commentary. But again, when you see teams like CSK, he’s got experience and the work he was putting in behind the scenes. So when it comes to this season, I’m very happy how it has gone till now,” RCB fielding coach Malolan Rangarajan on Dinesh Karthik’s form in IPL 2024.
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