RCB have beaten CSK only once in Chennai -- in the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru's hopes of exorcising a 17-year jinx hinge on their experienced batting unit finding its range when they face familiar foes Chennai Super Kings in their IPL 2025 match in Chennai on Friday.
RCB have beaten CSK only once at their home ground, the M A Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk, Chennai -- in the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008. In the current RCB squad, only star batter Virat Kohli was part of that moment and now he will like to breach the CSK's fortress for a second time.
But that's easy to dream. As ever, the Chennai outfit is constructed to win their home matches on a pitch that offers considerable help to spinners.
They have the ever-familiar Ravindra Jadeja and have brought back veteran Ravichandran Ashwin to the CSK fold after 10 years after buying him for Rs 9.75 crore at the mega auction.
CSK has also added Afghanistan left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmad too to the squad, and the troika did well against fellow five-time champions Mumbai Indians a few days back.
The three spinners combined bowled 11 overs against Mumbai, conceding an appreciable 70 runs for five wickets. Ahmad was the best of the lot with impressive figures of 4/18.
The pitch is expected to retain its character for this match as well, and the RCB batters, led by Kohli, will have to lift their game several notches to outwit an experienced bowling unit.
RCB's batting unit will need to devise a strategy to score off CSK's three-pronged spin unit, and Kohli should be the one to lead that charge.
Negating spin has not always been a strong point of Kohli's batting but in the last two years or so he has showed massive improvement in that department.
Central to that change is his willingness to play more sweep or slog sweeps against spinners, and Kohli will have to bring all those expertise to the table on a blockbuster Friday evening.
But then Kohli alone won't able to tackle a competent bowling machine, and he will require full-hearted support from the likes of Phil Salt, skipper Rajat Patidar, Liam Livingstone and Jitesh Sharma.
Looking at the Chepauk pitch, RCB might even consider bringing in Jacob Bethell, possibly for Tim David, who also provide a left-arm spin option.
They will also keep an eye on the fitness of pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who missed the first match against KKR due to a niggle, and if the veteran is fit then he will come in for Rasikh Salam.
On the other hand, CSK will be eager for their middle-order to find its groove as Shivam Dube, Deepak Hooda and Sam Curran faltered against MI in the last match.
They will be looking to provide more support to Rachin Ravindra and captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, while hoping for another strong cameo from talisman Mahendra Singh Dhoni if it comes to that.
The CSK will also closely monitor the fitness of ace pacer Matheesha Pathirana, who missed the opening game game against Mumbai.
Nathan Ellis may sit out if the Sri Lankan regains his fitness in time.
Teams:
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (w/k), Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Matheesha Pathirana, Noor Ahmad, Ravichandran Ashwin, Devon Conway, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Rachin Ravindra, Rahul Tripathi, Vijay Shankar, Sam Curran, Shaik Rashid, Anshul Kamboj, Mukesh Choudhary, Deepak Hooda, Gurjanpreet Singh, Nathan Ellis, Jamie Overton, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ramakrishnan Ghosh, Shreyas Gopal, Vansh Bedi, Andre Siddarth.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Rajat Patidar (captain), Virat Kohli, Yash Dayal, Josh Hazlewood, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma (w/k), Liam Livingstone, Rasikh Salam, Suyash Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Nuwan Thushara, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethel, Devdutt Padikkal, Swastik Chhikara, Lungi Ngidi, Abhinandan Singh, Mohit Rathee.
Match starts at 7.30pm IST.
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