IPL 2023: Royal Challengers Bangalore to lock horns with Chennai Super Kings at M Chinnaswamy in high-profile clash

Bengaluru: Royal Challengers Bangalore are set to take on MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Monday.
RCB started their IPL stint with a win against Mumbai Indians by 8 wickets but lost two consecutive matches against Kolkata Knight Riders and Lucknow Super Giants respectively. In the last match against Delhi Capitals, RCB bounced back and won by 23 runs. The biggest strength of RCB is Virat Kohli-Faf Du Plessis duo; both the openers are giving a great start to their team. Virat is the 5th highest run-scorer in the tournament, while Faf has bagged two half-centuries. Apart from these two, Glenn Maxwell can also give some feisty knocks.
In the last match against Delhi Capitals, RCB posted a competitive score of 174/6 in their 20 overs. Skipper Faf (22) and Virat gave a solid start to RCB, stitching a first-wicket stand of 42 runs. Virat continued his good form, bringing up his third fifty of IPL 2023 in four games.
Vijaykumar Vyshak was the star for RCB on his IPL debut, taking 3/20 in his four overs. Mohammed Siraj also took 2/23 in his four overs. Wanindu Hasaranga, Harshal Patel and Wayne Parnell took a wicket each.
On the other, CSK also have two wins and two losses in the four matches they played so far in the tournament. Chennai had lost the opening game of IPL 2023 against Gujarat Titans but later they did come back by winning two consecutive matches against LSG and MI. However, in their clash table topper Rajasthan Royals, they lost by 3 runs.
CSK has Ravindra Jadeja and Moeen Ali as experienced spin bowlers which can be key in the match against RCB considering Virat finds difficulty facing Jadeja's bowling. Jadeja has missed Kohli six times in IPL.
Batting first RR had put 175 on the board, Despite Dhoni's combative knock of 32 off 17 balls, CSK failed to chase the total by just 3 runs. Devon Conway had also played a knock of 50 off 38 balls. In the bowling unit, Ravindra Jadeja, Akash Singh and Tushar Deshpande had taken two-two wickets.
RCB and CSK have faced each other in 30 games where 10 were won by RCB and 19 were won by CSK.
Royal Challengers Bangalore Squad: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Maxwell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik(w), Wanindu Hasaranga, Harshal Patel, Wayne Parnell, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Mohammed Siraj, Anuj Rawat, David Willey, Akash Deep, Karn Sharma, Suyash Prabhudessai, Manoj Bhandage, Michael Bracewell, Finn Allen, Siddarth Kaul, Sonu Yadav, Rajan Kumar, Avinash Singh, Himanshu Sharma
Chennai Super Kings Squad: Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w/c), Sisanda Magala, Maheesh Theekshana, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Mitchell Santner, Shaik Rasheed, Subhranshu Senapati, RS Hangargekar, Dwaine Pretorius, Ben Stokes, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prashant Solanki, Simarjeet Singh, Matheesha Pathirana, Deepak Chahar, Bhagath Varma, Nishant Sindhu. (ANI)