After their playoff hopes being shattered, a distraught Royal Challengers Bangalore will look to play for pride when they go head to head against title-contenders Chennai Super Kings.
After their playoff hopes being shattered, a distraught Royal Challengers Bangalore will look to play for pride when they go head to head against title-contenders Chennai Super Kings in their last league match of the IPL-7 on Saturday. The 30-run defeat against the Kolkata Knight Riders all but ended RCB`s hopes of a play-off berth.
Virat Kohli’s patchy form with the bat was one of the key components for RCB’s doomed campaign. However, the RCB skipper would be eyeing a consolation against the CSK who have already qualified for the playoffs and would like to bounce back after they faced a six-wicket rout at the hands of Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Bangalore will rue the poor form of their explosive opener Chris Gayle who has failed to fire this tourney. Yuvraj Singh has done reasonably well but still lacked the firepower to see his side through. RCB will take pride in Kohli’s return to form when the latter scored his first half century this season against the Sunrisers Hyderabad. The disappointment though has been the bowling. Except for spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and Mitchell Starc, most have struggled.
The Chennai side will be looking to avoid a hattrick of losses (KKR and SRH) as Dhoni’s ‘Yellow Brigade’ look to bounce back against the RCB. Chennai sit second on the table with 16 points from eight wins and five losses in 13 matches.
Opener Dwayne Smith, who has contributed well to CSK`s campaign so far, scored 47 against Hyderabad and would be aiming to continue the form to enter the playoffs with confidence. Faf du Plessis, however, remains a slight concern as he is yet to come up with a noteworthy knock for his side. David Hussey has filled well for Brendon McCullum while Suresh Raina, too, has clicked with the bat. The skipper got his first fifty of the season and will be raring to go once again. On the bowling front, pacer Mohit Sharma has been the bowling star for Chennai this season, having taken 18 wickets at an impressive average of 15.22.
Teams:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (c), Chris Gayle, Yogesh Takawale, AB de Villiers, Yuvraj Singh, Sachin Rana, Mitchell Starc, Abu Nechim, Yuzvendra Chahal, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ashok Dinda, Ravi Rampaul, Vijay Zol, Shadab Jakati, Albie Morkel, Sandeep Warrier, Harshal Patel, Tanmay Mishra, Rilee Rossouw, Varun Aaron, Parthiv Patel.
Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c), Dwayne Smith, Suresh Raina, David Hussey, Ravindra Jadeja, Mithun Manhas, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishwar Pandey, Mohit Sharma, Samuel Badree, Faf du Plessis, John Hastings, Matt Henry, Ben Hilfenhaus, Dwayne Bravo, Ashish Nehra, Baba Aparajith, Pawan Negi, Ronit More and Vijay Shankar.
