The Twenty-fifth match of the tournament is going to be played at Dubai International Stadium between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
Match Details
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) vs Royal Challengers Bangalore (RR), Match 25, IPL 2020, 18:00 Local time, 19:30 IST.
Television Broadcast India: Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports Select, and Star Sports Select HD
Live Streaming: Disney+Hotstar
In this tournament, CSK have won only 2 our of the 6 matches whereas RCB have won 3 out of their 5 matches.
Head to Head
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have won 15 matches out of the total 24 matches played so far.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)) have won only 8 matches while 1 match was abandoned.
In the last four meetings between them, CSK have won 3 out of the 4 matches.
Squads
Top Players in CSK & KKR
CSK:
MS Dhoni: If one looks at his average(51) it might seem that he is having a great tournament but in reality, he hasn't played any innings of significance as yet. In the previous match, while chasing, he rightly promoted himself to bat at number 4 position for Chennai but unfortunately made only 11 runs. The good news for CSK is that MS Dhoni has scored the maximum runs against RCB. He has made 794 runs at an average of 41.78 and a strike rate of 143.58. Looking at these stats CSK supporters would be hopeful of him stepping up the game as the batsman.
A Rayudu: He played a match-winning knock in the first match against MI but got out early in the match against SRH and against KKR got out scoring 30 of 27 balls. Like Dhoni he too has scored ample runs against RCB, he has scored 577 runs at an average of 33.94 and a strike rate of 120.45. CSK would rely on him along with the other top-order batsmen to perform well with the bat.
S Watson: After his heroics against KXIP he scored another 50 against SRH. CSK could have one the previous match if Watson could have carried his bat till the end. As far as his performance against RCB is concerned, he has scored only 1 fifty against them and has a strike rate of 117.60 which is quite less as compared to his overall strike rate of 139.10. Thala would expect him to score big in this match as well.
Faf du Plessis: He is having his best IPL season this year. He has scored 299 runs at an exceptional strike rate of 151.01 so far. He wasn't amongst the runs in the previous match but would want to get back to scoring runs in this match. Against RCB, he has a decent record, he has scored 2 fifties in 7 innings and also has an average of 42 against them.
RCB:
V Kohli: The RCB captain finally gets the monkey off his back, after failure with the bat in the first 3 matches scored a match-winning 72 off 53 balls against SRH and 43 of 39 against DC in the lost cause. Like Dhoni is the top-scorer for CSK against RCB, V Kohli is the top-scorer against CSK. He has scored 747 runs at a strike rate of 124.08 and average of 37.35. If we compare these statistics, it is literally MS Dhoni versus V Kohli in this match.
AB de Villiers: Five matches, two fifties, two not outs, one man of the match award, and RCB winning 3 out of the 5 matches played in the tournament, seems like things are working pretty good for Mr.360 and his franchise. Baring his failure in the previous match with the bat he has looked fantastic every time he has stepped in to bat.
A Finch: Apart from the fifty against MI he hasn't played as well as expected from him. A lot is expected from him as a batsman but so far he hasn't played as consistently as expected. Although knowing how classy a player he is, things should improve for him.
Y Chahal: He was attacked in the previous match against DC but overall he has been a class apart. He already has bagged two MOM's. Against CSK, he has been economical, he has picked up 10 wickets at an economy rate of 6.85, he will play a major role with the ball for RCB.
D Padikkal: This youngster has had a dream IPL career start, he has scored 178 runs at an average of 36.60 and a strike rate of 131.85. If these stats don't look fantastic already, one should know that he has scored a fifty in 3 out of the 5 innings he has batted. DC employed Ashwin against him at the start of the innings and he fell for the spin trap. MS Dhoni might do the same as well. Now that he has been performing consistently the opposition might be having plans specially made to tackle him.
Likely Playing 11
Other players who can make an impact
W Sundar(RCB): He has been splendid with the ball in the power play overs. It would be exciting to see the battle between the CSK openers versus this miserly bowler. He is second in the list of most economical bowlers with an economy of 4.80.
K Sharma(CSK): He bowled excellently in the match versus KKR. He picked up 2 wickets and gave away only 25 runs in his 4 overs. He might play an important role in today's match as well. MS Dhoni might be tempted to get him bowl to Kohli.
On Paper and based on form RCB is a slight favourite in this match. CSK have had plenty of problems with their team, S Raina returned home before the tournament started and H Singh also chose not to play this tournament. My heart tells me it would be Dhoni's day today brain says Virat's day. Let's see what happens...
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