Faf du Plessis wins the toss and chooses to bat. There are some cracks in the pitch, and it will probably get slower as the game goes on. CSK presents Mitchell, Mustafizur, Rizvi, Ravindra, and new caps. Maheesh Theekshana, the SL mystery spinner, is CSK’s fourth overseas player. Former Super King Karn Sharma will line up for RCB, with Mayank Dagar, being the other spinner in RCB’s XI.
RCB Playing XI : Virat Kohli, Faf du Plesis(C), Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Kartik, Karn Sharma, Alzarri Joseph, Mayank Dagar, Mohammad Siraj, Yash Dayal(Sub).
CSK Playing XI : Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Ravindra Jadeja, Sameer Rizvi, Ms Dhoni, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana, Shivam Dube(Sub).
There is dead silence at Chepauk as RCB captain and former Chennai Super King Faf starts off with three fours. Mustafizur and Ravindra, two CSK newcomers, combine to end Faf’s innings at 35 off 23 balls. Mustafizur finds more bounce in the same over to hit the outside edge close to the bat’s shoulder. Dhoni’s practice of catching. While Chahar is led right into the gloves by Maxwell, Dhoni gets more practice catching. Maxwell went after a duck too. In the sixth over, RCB falls even lower, to 42 for 3.
Mustafizur removes Faf and Patidar in his opening over, then returns to remove Green and Kohli in his second. Attempting to drag a pull against the angle from left-arm over, Kohli lacks sufficient velocity. He reaches deep midwicket, where Rahane and Ravindra combine for a tag-team catch. Then Mustafizur uses a whipping cutter to topple Green. The 12th over sees the Chennai boy DK take on CSK at Chepauk, with the RCB at 78 for 5.
It begins at his home ground as Dinesh Karthik plays in his final IPL season. After reaching 78 for 5 while the rest of the stars had already returned to the hut, he managed to drag RCB to 173 for 6 in 20 overs.
As the captain of CSK, Gaikwad hits the first ball he faces to the midwicket boundary. Although it was off a thick inside edge, Gaikwad’s new opening partner Rachin Ravindra also gets off to a first-ball four. After Dinesh Karthik is replaced, left-arm seamer Yash Dayal strikes in his second over, sending Gaikwad floating behind to Green at first slip for fifteen. During the ODI World Cup in Chepauk last year, Mitchell struck the first ball he faced for six. He makes an impression on the IPL in Chennai by hitting legspinner Karn Sharma for consecutive sixes. It’s breathtaking to see Daz smash the ball into the ground.
The RCB is taking advantage of the slower pace of the Chepauk course. Mitchell is holing out to long-on for 22 from 18 balls after Cameron Green sent a slower, shorter ball onto the pitch. With his quick pace and bounce, Joseph has eliminated the pitch from the picture. Joseph keeps hitting Dube in the upper torso. Dube is having difficulty releasing him. Faf matches Maxwell’s offspin up with Dube and Jadeja, the two left-handers in the middle innings. CSK must score 60 off 42 balls.
