Big picture: CSK ravaged by injuries, illness
Form guide
Royal Challengers Bangalore WLLW (most recent match first)
Chennai Super Kings LWWL
Team news
Toss and Impact Player strategy
Royal Challengers are likely to put faith in Anuj Rawat once again as their Impact Player. He could probably replace one of the bowlers when they chase.
Possible bat-first XI: 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Faf du Plessis (capt), 3 Mahipal Lomror, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Shahbaz Ahmed, 6 Anuj Rawat, 7 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 8 Harshal Patel, 9 Wanindu Hasaranga, 10 Wayne Parnell/David Willey, 11 Mohammed Siraj
Possible bowl-first XI: 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Faf du Plessis (capt), 3 Mahipal Lomror, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Shahbaz Ahmed, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Harshal Patel, 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Wayne Parnell/David Willey, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Vijaykumar Vyshak
Chennai Super Kings
Podi Malinga Pathirana is likely to replace the injured Magala in Super Kings’ XI. Stokes, who is working his way back from a minor toe injury, bowled at the nets in Bengaluru, but he is unlikely to play on Monday. Mike Hussey, Super Kings’ batting coach, suggested that MS Dhoni would manage his knee injury “as best as he can along the way”.
If Super Kings bowl first, they could start with Akash Singh and consider bringing Ambati Rayudu in as Impact Player during their chase.
Possible bat-first XI: 1 Devon Conway, 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 3 Ajinkya Rahane, 4 Moeen Ali, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Ambati Rayudu, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 9 Maheesh Theekshana, 10 Matheesha Pathirana/Dwaine Pretorius 11 Tushar Deshpande
Possible bowl-first XI: 1 Devon Conway, 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 3 Ajinkya Rahane, 4 Moeen Ali, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 8 Maheesh Theekshana, 9 Matheesha Pathirana/Dwaine Pretorius, 10 Tushar Deshpande, 11 Akash Singh
Pitch and conditions
The Chinnaswamy track is usually full of runs and the ball often skids on under lights in dewy conditions. Fifty-seven sixes have been hit across three matches at the Chinnaswamy – the most at a venue this season. The weather is expected to be fine for the duration of the game.
Stats that matter
- Ravindra Jadeja has dominated Maxwell in the IPL, dismissing him six times in ten innings while keeping him to 49 off 40 balls. He has also kept Virat Kohli quiet, conceding only 140 runs off 131 balls against him for three wickets.
- Dhoni has smashed Siraj for 51 runs off 28 balls without being dismissed in the IPL.
- Wayne Parnell or David Willey could pose a threat to Ruturaj Gaikwad. The Super Kings opener has fallen to left-arm seamers 11 times in 19 innings since IPL 2020. No other batter has been dismissed more times by left-arm seamers during this period.
Quotes
“It’s always a great occasion, especially playing here. They’ve got a fantastic team and they’ve been playing some good cricket and got some confidence from their win the other day. So, I feel we have to play at our best to hopefully win the match.”
Super Kings’ batting coach Mike Hussey wants his players to bring their A game
Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
