Resurgent Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) cross swords with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as Ruturaj Gaikwad won the toss and elected to bowl first in their IPL 2024 clash at the M Chinnaswamy stadium May 18, Saturday. While CSK won their last match vs RR, RCB defeated Delhi Capitals in their previous match.
Ruturaj Gaikwad brought in Mitchell Santner in place of Moeen Ali in CSK's playing XI for the match which will decide their playoff fate. Meanwhile, RCB made no changed in their final XI.
What did the captains say?
After winning the toss CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad said:
“We'll bowl first. The wicket looks good, conditions are overcast and we will look to make the most of the movement in the first 2-3 overs. It looks a bit damp, but we'll go with great intent. Every game in the IPL is must win, nothing changes for us, we'll take it ball-by-ball, try and win the small processes. We've won some crucial games to go ahead of the pack in the middle. Just one change - Moeen isn't available, Santner replaces him.”
Meanwhile, RCB captain Faf du Plessis, after the toss, said:
“We would have fielded as well, but we put up a good score when we batted first last. Losing the toss isn't ideal, but we'll take a lot of confidence from the last 5 games. The set-up is great, last match before the knock-out stage, the scenario is nicely set-up and we're happy to play our last league game in front of our fans. Not thinking a lot, we'll take it as it comes and do our best.”
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Chennai Super Kings' Playing XI
Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Daryl Mitchell, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w), Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande, Simarjeet Singh, Maheesh Theekshana
Chennai Super Kings Impact Subs: Shivam Dube, Sameer Rizvi , Prashant Solanki, Shaik Rasheed, Mukesh Choudhary
Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Playing XI
Faf du Plessis(c), Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Rajat Patidar, Cameron Green, Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik(w), Karn Sharma, Yash Dayal, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Siraj
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Impact Subs: Swapnil Singh, Anuj Rawat, Suyash Prabhudessai, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Himanshu Sharma
Head-to-Head
RCB and CSK have clashed 32 times in the IPL so far. Of these encounters, Bengaluru have secured victories in 10 matches, while Chennai have triumphed 21 times. One match concluded with no result.
Pitch and conditions
60m square boundaries, 70m straight down the ground. There's not much grass on the surface, there are a few cracks and it looks mosaic, but the pitch is rock hard, reckons Deep Dasgupta. Doesn't have that extra moisture like the last game played here. There will be runs scored. Hasn't rained much since yesterday barring the occasional drizzle.
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