IPL 2018, Match 24 CSK vs RCB Big Contest Preview

IPL 2018, Match 24 CSK vs RCB Big Contest Preview

The three-time IPL finalists, Royal Challengers Bangalore, will contest the two-time IPL champions, Chennai Super Kings, for the 24th match of the season. Over the years, RCB and CSK have enjoyed a great rivalry in IPL. Thus, it will be a cracker of a contest between RCB and CSK.

Both teams are coming off from a victory in their previous encounters. While Chennai Super Kings are the leader of the points table right now, RCB would have gained a lot of confidence from their win against Delhi in the last game.
Rain is expected to stay away from the game as per the weather forecast. Humidity is expected to be around 52% with the temperature hovering around 30-33 degrees Celsius during the game. Thus, it is expected to be a humid evening in Bengaluru.
The Pitch Report

The M. Chinnaswamy track is considered to be one of the best batting surfaces. During the game against Delhi Daredevils, a tricky wicket was on offer that put the impetus on capitalizing the new ball.

RCB vs CSK Head-to-head

CSK 12 - RCB 7 - NR 1. CSK have a good edge over RCB with twelve wins in their pack as compared to nine wins for the latter.

The Possible XIs

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Manan Vohra 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Mandeep Singh, 6 Corey Anderson/Colin de Grandhomme, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Mohammed Siraj/Kulwant Khejroliya, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal

Chennai Super Kings: 1 Shane Watson, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 6 Sam Billings, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Dwayne Bravo, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Deepak Chahar, 10 Karn Sharma, 11 Shardul Thakur

Teams Strategy 

CSK could save Shane Watson to stop de Villiers. In T20s, Watson has dismissed de Villiers two times, giving away 55 runs in 49 balls.

RCB could use the legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal against the in-form Suresh Raina. Against Chahal in the IPL, Raina has been dismissed four times in eight matches. He has scored just 79 runs in 57 balls.

Both the teams are likely to field unchanged XIs. CSK's strategy to play Ambati Rayudu at No. 4 had paid off; Tahir, although up for selection, might be left out considering he has had a middling tournament so far.