It's time for the Southern derby; RCB looks to extend their winning streak to four games

Call it the El-Clasico of IPL if you want but the fervent rivalry of Red and Yellow will once again come again to life as the Chennai Super Kings will be colliding with the Royal Challengers Bangalore on an electric Tuesday night.

Both sides have so far savoured completely contrasting fortunes in the latest edition of the tournament as the Royal Challengers Bangalore have been soaring high with three consecutive wins while Chennai is still to get off the mark after the worst start to their campaign in the antiquity of the entire tournament.

The Challengers will be coming to this contest on the back of fine form as they ran riot against an ailing Mumbai Indians with an emphatic all-round display. Budding opener Anuj Rawat blasted a coming-of-age knock with an impeccable display of domination alongside a seasoned Virat Kohli who steered the ship to the finishing line with a controlled 48.

The bowlers were right on their money as they did pretty well to restrict the Indians in the first 15 overs. With the bat, the brilliance of Anuj Rawat and Virat Kohli was too hot for Mumbai to handle.

The Kings, on the contrary, have so far struggled vehemently with barely anything to show for their efforts as they have slumped down to four straight defeats, the worst start ever for the Chennai Super Kings. This clash will be of symbolic importance to the Kings as another defeat can deal a dampening dent to their already gloomy spirits.

Given the preceding reputation that these two bring into the rivalry, despite the past contests of the ongoing edition of the fray, it is still going to be a street-fight with nasty haymakers up for grabs.

Venue watch:

The venue has shown a slight inclination towards the bowlers in the last couple of matches with a minimal presence of green that has made the ball drift in the early overs, making life a nightmare for the openers. However, the situation was totally different when the Challengers played their opener against Punjab in the same venue. A match aggregate of 400 plus runs was posted, making the surface an ideal one for the batters to make merry. However, since then the totals have dipped and the average score for teams batting first has been 170. However, the team chasing will always have an upper hand considering the dew factor and the fact that ten T20 games out of the thirteen played here have been won by the chasers.

Battles to watch out for:

Virat Kohli versus MS Dhoni: The presence of these two names in the rivalry eclipses any other name on any other day and makes this a contest to savour for the ages. Two experienced batters, two wizened leaders and two enduring war-horses will blow life into this contest as it will be a battle of Kohli’s unreserved aggression against Dhoni’s warring calm.

Faf du Plessis versus Moeen Ali: The former South African captain got off to a fine start as he blasted a seraphic 88 in the season opener. However, since then he has been relatively reticent going by the high standards that he has set for himself. Yet, it is needless to say that if he gets going, he can almost single-handedly flip the course of the game. Moeen Ali is a dynamic striker of the cherry and can also roll his wrists by a good deal. He was the crux of Chennai’s unchecked blitz in the precursor edition of the tournament that played an instrumental role in uplifting Chennai’s fortunes.

Josh Hazlewood versus Dwayne Bravo: The Australian quick is all set to start his IPL journey for RCB and will be up against his former team in the very first game. Known as the Bendemeer Bullet, Hazlewood is known for his accuracy and his ability to conjure a good deal of speed that often goes up to 145 plus kays. Dwayne Bravo, on the contrary, is a tricky customer and can tip the scales of the game on his given day. He ranges from moderate speed to fast, making it challenging for the batters to guess their way out.

Squads:

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, Faf du Plessis, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dinesh Karthik, Josh Hazlewood, Shahbaz Ahmed, Anuj Rawat, Akash Deep, Mahipal Lomror, Finn Allen, Sherfane Rutherford, Jason Behrendorff, Suyash Prabhudesai, Chama Milind, Aneeshwar Gautam, Karn Sharma, David Willey, Luvnith Sisodia, Siddharth Kaul.

Chennai Super Kings:

Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Dwayne Bravo, Ambati Rayudu, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Subhranshu Senapati, Adam Milne, Mukesh Choudhary, Prashant Solanki, C Hari Nishaanth, N Jagadeesan, Chris Jordan, K Bhagath Varma, Robin Uthappa, Deepak Chahar, KM Asif, Tushar Deshpande, KM Asif, Shivam Dube, Maheesh Theekshana, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Samarjeet Singh, Devon Conway.

Match details:

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Chennai Super Kings

Venue: Dr. DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai

Date: 12th April 2022

Time: 7:30 PM IST