Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore
Date: Saturday, 16th April 2011; Time:16:00 PM IST
Venue:M. Chinaswamy Stadium, Chennai

Its Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore at M. Chinaswamy Stadium in Chennai.
Both team have two points on the table but Chennai Super Kings have a game in hand.

Chennai Super Kings are having a good tournament so far, even though they lost the last match against Kings XI Punjab they batted really well and were outdone by one Kings XI player Valthaty.

Royal Challengers Bangalore now have lost two games in a row, the last loss coming against Deccan Chargers and they were undone by the pace of Deccan player Dale Steyn.

So, Its the battle of the south and both teams will be looking to win this game and play some good cricket and get those crucial points on board. 

Probable starting X1's -

Chennai Super Kings: A Srikkanth, M Vijay, S Raina, S Badrinath, MS Dhoni (c), M Hussey, A Morkel, R Ashwin, S Jakati, D Bollinger, T Southee

Royal Challengers Bangalore: T Dilshan, M Aggarwal, V Kohli, AB de Villiers, S Tiwary, C Pujara, D Vettori (c), C Langeveldt, R Ninan, Z Khan, S Aravind

Chennai Super Kings

Chennai Super Kings lost their last match against Kings Punjab XI by 6 wickets.

CSK 188/4(20) | KXIP 193/4(19.1), KXIP won by 6 wickets. Man of the match: Valthaty

Chennai Super Kings who are the defending Champions of IPL were handed their first defeat when they met Kings Xi Punjab at Mohali on 13th April. They were taken down by one single man in the name of Paul Vathaty who hammered 120 off just 63 balls who took Punjab past Chennai's score of 188. 

Chennai had batted excellently as they scored the highest runs of IPL 2011 but even that was enough, but Dhoni will be pleased that they scored so many runs. Next time they will have to bowl well to make sure they defend such a high score. 

Chennai welcome Michael Hussey who joins the Chennai outfit after flying down from Bangladesh after having a successful tour with Australia against Bangladesh. And it was Hussey who scored the crucial century agaisnt Bangladesh in the last match of the 3 match series against Bangladesh.

With Hussey in the squad, Scott Styris would have to give his place up. Hussey strengthens the CSK batting line-up which is already power-packed with Aniruddha and Vijay up-front followed by Raina and Dhoni, both of whom had a good outing with the bat in the last game.

Bowling department might also see some change, with Tim Southee retaining his place after some good performances. Another Australian Bollinger is getting close to match fitness and could replace Sri Lankan spinner Suraj Randiv.

So with a explosive batting line-up Chennai Super Kings will surely look to repeat the same batting performance and improve on their bowling which will ensure a victory for them.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Royal Challengers Bangalore lost their last match against Deccan Chargers  by 33 runs.

DC 175/5(20) | RCB 142/9(20), DC won by 33 runs. Man of the match: Steyn

Royal Challengers started their season well with a win against new comers Kochi Tuskers Kerala but have slipped in their last two games and now lie third from bottom, but these are early days to come out with any conclusion.

RCB have underperformed in all departments in their last two games and need to re-group before they step out to play against Chennai Super Kings. Bangalore have a very good team with some talented players and a able captain in Vettori.

In Dilshan and AB de Villiers they have got explosive batsmen but both need to fire and be consistent enough. Kohli has looked good in the middle order but needs more support from players like Tiwary and Pujara. 

In their bowling department, Zaheer Khan did go for lot of runs in the last couple of games especially in the death overs. Vettori has been economical so far but lack of wickets is the grave concern for Bangalore and with the absence of Dirk Nannes most of the responsibility lays on Zaheer' shoulder to take wickets up front.

Banglaore will have the services of South African swing bowler Charles Langeveldt for this game and his pairing with Zaheer Khan at the start will prove decisive.

So with bundles of talent within the team, RCB need to gel as a team and prove that they are one of the top teams of IPL 2011.

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