IPL 2021 - CSK vs RCB – Preview – Time for Southern Derby in Sharjah

Chennai Super Kings look in good touch than Royal Challengers Bangalore after first round of matches in UAE.

CSK and RCB stands at number 2 and 3 in points table

The three times Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) kicked of the second leg of the season with a win over defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) by 20 runs in game number 30 in United Arab Emirates (UAE), while on the other hand Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) faced an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) when they chased down a small target in just 10 overs of the 31st match of the league.

The encounter number 35 of the 14th edition of Indian Premier League is scheduled to take place on Friday, September 25, 2021 between MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings and Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

This will be the first match to be played at this venue in the second leg of IPL 2021. This fixture is supposed to be a high-scoring game as the ground dimensions are very small and both the teams have some big names in their squad who can smash the ball out of the ground with ease.

CSK vs RCB – H2H Record

CSK and RCB have clashed 27 times against each other in the Indian Premier League so far out of which Chennai and Bangalore have triumphed 17 times and 9 times respectively and one fixture between the two teams finished with no result.

In their last meeting at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, it was a one-man show all the way by CSK’s all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. He scored an unbeaten 62 runs from just 28 balls out of which 37 runs came in the last over which was bowled by the current purple cap holder Harshal Patel. Jadeja took 3 wickets in this fixture and just conceded 13 runs and also effected a run out.

Read More: IPL 2021, KKR vs RCB - Three-fers by Varun, Russell blows away Virat and Co; KKR at number 5

Batting-friendly deck and short boundaries sure to result in high-scoring match

Sharjah is known for producing high-scoring matches due to short boundaries and that should be the case in the upcoming game as well.

The wicket at this venue could be a cause of concern for bowlers if they don’t get their lengths right. However, the pacers should get the ball to swing around in the early stages, keeping the batters on their toes.

The white-ball also skids onto the bat under lights, making it easy for strokeplay. Meanwhile, the batters will target the shorter boundaries to pile big scores, which should make for a good contest between them and the spinners. Both Bangalore and Chennai will look to chase upon winning the toss, with 170 being par at the venue.

Team News

Ambati Rayudu is set to miss the next few weeks’ matches as he got his arm injured while batting against Mumbai Indians. X-Rays have been conducted and the good news for CSK fans is that there is nothing serious and he will join the team in a few weeks. If Ambati Rayudu still not match-fit, Robin Uthappa might replace him in playing XI.

Sam Curran has completed his mandatory quarantine period and ready for selection. If he gets a game today then Dwayne Bravo has to make a space for him. That would be really harsh on Bravo for sure.

There might not any change we witness today in RCB as they might want to field the same combination.

Probable XIs

Chennai Super Kings Probable XI - Faf du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu/Robin Uthappa, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Dwayne Bravo/Sam Curran, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Josh Hazlewood

Royal Challengers Bangalore Probable XI - Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, KS Bharat (wk), Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers, Wanindu Hasaranga, Kyle Jamieson, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini

Stats that matter

- The top run-scorers in the games between CSK and RCB are Virat Kohli (909), MS Dhoni (737) and Suresh Raina (693).

- The top wicket-takers in the matches between CSK and RCB are Albie Morkel (16), Ravindra Jadeja (15), Muttiah Muralidharan (15) and Vinay Kumar (15).

- Among top five individual highest scores in the games between CSK and RCB, CSK players registered four of them - Murali Vijay (95), Suresh Raina (94*), MS Dhoni (84*) and Michael Hussey (83*) and RCB recorded one - Virat Kohli (90*).

- Virat Kohli needs only 66 runs to become just the fifth player to get to 10,000 runs in Men's T20 cricket, behind Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Shoaib Malik and David Warner.

Read More: IPL 2021 - CSK pull it back after top-order collapse, beat MI by 20 runs; move to top of the table