 The Chennai Super Kings will look to arrest their bad slide towards defeats
as they take on the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 28th game of the
tournament at Chennai. The Chennai side lost their first game, then won a couple
in a row, before Dhoni got injured.
This meant that they were led by Suresh Raina, who lost them two matches, and
despite Dhoni's comeback, they could not prevent the side from going down in
their third successive game. Bangalore, on the other hand, have been in red
hot form and despite their loss to Delhi lie at the second position in the points
table.
Click for Live Score Card of Chennai Super Kings Vs Bangalore Royal ChallengersThe best bit about the Bangalore side has been their bowling at the home ground.
The pitch there had supported the pace bowling and on most occasions afforded
bounce and swing that has gone well for the likes of Dale Steyn, Praveen Kumar and Vinay Kumar. Both the Kumars have bowled well enough to cement
their places in the ICC World T20 and that has spoken quite well for them. Praveen
even has a hat-trick in the competition and has been very consistent in getting
the swing.
What will be interesting to see is whether the same can be continued in the
hot, seamy conditions in Chennai as well, or will it get difficult for his likes
to go after the batting.
The Bangalore batting has been another talking point. Jacques Kallis
form is an obvious given, but most importantly, it is Robin Uthappa who has
offered much firepower lower down the order. Virat Kohli would be disappointed
at not being selected for the ICC World T20 and will like to make a big one
to make it count, whereas the likes of Rahul Dravid and Eoin Morgan will need
to come good. Kevin Pietersen would have returned to India by the time
of this game and could replace Morgan one feels.
Chennai needs a good batting performance. But most importantly, it needs a
very, very good bowling performance. Almost all its bowlers have leaked runs,
and it has been difficult for the captain to set fields for them as was the
case in the recent Mumbai-Chennai game.
They would be looking at making some changes to their playing eleven to be
able to get the combination right, but one feels that the inclusion of Shadab Jakati makes sense for now. What I would love to see is whether Dhoni thinks
of going in with Jakati, Ashwin and Murali, all three spinners in the line-up.
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