Two batting powerhouses clash as CSK host RCB

Two batting powerhouses will lock horns as Chennai Super Kings host Royal Challengers Bangalore in the return leg of an Indian Premier League (IPL) fixture at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Monday.

The Super Kings lead the points table with 12 points from nine games, while their rivals are third with nine points from eight outings. Having lost two back-to-back encounters, CSK have some lost ground to cover but Royal Challengers will be high on confidence after making a late surge into the top three.

The head-to-head favours RCB too with 10 wins from 18 matches and Super Kings winning seven.

Bangalore won a thriller against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Saturday beating them by seven wickets with two balls to spare. CSK went down against Sunrisers Hyderabad chasing 193, losing the contest by 22runs. However in the first-leg at Bengaluru it was Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men who were jubilant on the day as they defeated the Virat Kohli-led RCB by 27 runs.

The battle will again rest on the shoulders of the devastating willowers each side boasts off. While the home team will bank on Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Bravo, Suresh Raina and Dhoni to fire, RCB will want the gigantic Jamaican Chris Gayle, Kohli and South African skipper AB De Villiers to come good.

The CSK bowling will be led by the veteran left-arm seamer and the top-wicket taker Ashish Nehra and Dwayne Bravo who has been quite successful in the last few outings, while Australian paceman Mitchell Starc and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who has picked 11 wickets from seven matches so far will be the men who shoulder the responsibility of Bangalore’s attack.

It also remains to be seen if an unlikely hero emerges from the star-studded teams to make the difference between the two sides.

The squads: Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (captain), AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle Mitchell Starc Nic Maddinson, Rilee Rossouw, Daren Sammy, David Wiese, Sean Abbott, Adam Milne, Varun Aaron, Ashoke Dinda, Harshal Patel, Vijay Zol, Abu Nechim, Sandeep Warrier, Yogesh Takawale, Yuzvendra Chahal, Iqbal Abdulla, Manvinder Bisla, Mandeep Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Subramaniam Badrinath, Sarfaraz Khan, Jalaj Saxena, Shishir Bhavane.

Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohit Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Baba Aparajith, Ishwar Pandey, Mithun Minhas, Pawan Negi, Ronit More, Rahul Sharma, Ankush Bains, Irfan Pathan, Pratyush Singh, Ekalavya Dwivedi, Dwayne Smith, McCullum, D Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Michael Hussey, M Henry, S Badree, K Abbott, Andrew Tye.