Preview: IPL 2015 Match 20: Royal Challengers Bangalore Vs Chennai Super Kings

Bengaluru, April 21: Beaten in their respective last games, both Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will be hungry to prevail over each other in the battle of wits when they lock horns in an Indian Premier League 2015 (IPL 8) match here tomorrow.

IPL Special; Points Table

The Super Kings are placed second in the table with six points from four games, while the Royal Challengers are languishing at the bottom with just two points from three outings.

Under pressure after back-to-back defeats against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians, the Royal Challengers will be keen to regain the momentum, but would face an uphill task against the two-time champions, who would be looking to earn the number one position in the points table.

The Bangalore outfit has won just one out of their last three matches and the onus would be on the star-studded batting line-up to improve the success rate. There is enough firepower in RCB batting with the likes of Chris Gayle, the in-form AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli in the ranks.

No other batsman knows the Twenty20 format better than Gayle. Out of 53 occasions, the destructive West Indian has emerged as the top-scorer on 25 occasions. Gayle would be desperate to brush aside an unusual innings of 10 runs off 24 balls in the previous match against Mumbai Indians, and adopt back his aggressive approach.

Surprisingly, Gayle has the dubious record of lowest strike rate of 41.66 in IPL history for an innings of 10 runs or more. The bowling, meanwhile, looked a tad weak in the absence of Mitchell Starc. However, Starc has arrived and he will play tomorrow. Varun Aaron has failed to make an impression so far and Ashok Dinda might be included the playing XI tomorrow.

The spin department is being handled by Yuzvendra Chahal, who Kohli relies on a lot, and he would like to continue with his form. On the other hand, CSK have clicked in almost all departments of the game so far in the tournament.

They won their first three games against Delhi Daredevils, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians, before faltering against the current table-toppers Rajasthan Royals in Ahmedabad in the last match.

Squads

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (captain), AB de Villers, Chris Gayle, Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper), Subramaniam Badrinath, Darren Sammy, Mitchell Starc, Nic Maddinson, Varun Aaron, Yuzvendra Singh Chahal, Rilee Rossouw, Vijay Zol, Yogesh Takawale, Abu Nechim Ahmed, Harshal Patel, Ashok Dinda, Sandeep Warrier, Manvinder Bisla, Iqbal Abdullah, Sean Abbott, Adam Milne, David Wiese, Jalaj Saxena, Mandeep Singh, Sarfaraz Naushad Khan and Shishir Bhavane.

Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (captain and wicketkeeper), Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohit Sharma, Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Faf Du Plessis, Matt Henry, Samuel Badree, Michael Hussey, Kyle Abbott, Andrew Tye, Pawan Negi, Ashish Nehra, Baba Aparajith, Ishwar Pandey, Mithun Manhas, Ronit More, Rahul Sharma, Ankush Bains, Irfan Pathan, Pratyush Singh, Eklavya Dwivedi.

Match starts 8 PM IST

Also playing tomorrow at 4 PM - SRH Vs KKR in Visakhapatnam (Match Preview)

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PTI