Royal Challengers Bengaluru finally made it to the playoffs after defeat Chennai Super Kings by 27 runs at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday.
After posting a total of 218/5, Royal Challengers Bengaluru restricted Chennai Super Kings to 191/7 despite fifty by Rachin Ravindra (61) and Ravindra Jadeja's valiant unbeaten innings of 42 off 22 balls.
RCB qualified for the knockout stage of the ongoing IPL season after achieving the criteria of 18 runs. Faf du Plessis will finish at the fourth spot on the points table and will play Eliminator against third-place team in the league stage.
While, Chennai Super Kings' dream to give fitting farewell to their former CSK skipper MS Dhoni by lifting the sixth IPL trophy came to an end after they were knocked out of the tournament.
Mid-innings report
Royal Challengers Bengaluru's posted a solid total of 218/5 in 20 in the first innings against Chennai Super Kings in-or-die match in Bengaluru.
After putting to bat first by CSK, RCB openers Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli gave a brisk start to their innings as the duo formed a 78-run stand until the latter was dismissed for 47 by Mitchell Santner. Du Plessis's stay at the crease ended after he was run out by Santner at non-striker's end for 54 off 39 balls at 113/3.
Rajat Patidar (41) and Cameron Green (38*) contributed significantly to RCB innings while Dinesh Karthik (14) and Glenn Maxwell (16) hit a few blows in the final two overs to help the visitors set hefty target of 219 for Chennai Super Kings to chase in a crucial match.
For CSK, Shardul Thakur leaked 61 runs but picked two wickets in four overs while Mitchell Santner and Tushar Deshpande picked a wicket each.
Toss Update
Ruturaj Gaikwad-led Chennai Super Kings won the toss and opted to bowl first against Faf du Plessis-led Royal Challengers Bengaluru in a must-win game at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
CSK and RCB have made changes to their playing XI. Chennai Super Kings brought in Mitchell Santner by replacing Moeen Ali, while Royal Challengers Bengaluru brought back out-of-form Glenn Maxwell into their playing XI.
Playing XI
CSK: Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), Daryl Mitchell, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(WK), Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande, Simarjeet Singh, Maheesh Theekshana
RCB: Faf du Plessis (C), Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Rajat Patidar, Cameron Green, Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik (WK), Karn Sharma, Yash Dayal, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Siraj
Pitch Report:
60m square boundaries, 70m straight down the ground. There's not much grass on the surface, there are a few cracks and it looks mosaic, but the pitch is rock hard, reckons Deep Dasgupta.
Preview:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Chennai Super Kings will take on each other for the second time in the IPL 2024. Their first encounter of the season was in the opening game, where CSK defeated RCB by six wickets.
The upcoming clash is crucial for both RCB and CSK as they have to win in order to qualify for the playoffs of the ongoing IPL season. RCB experienced a disappointing start to the campaign with six losses on the trot, but managed to turn the game around with five consecutive wins to find themselves in a genuine position of qualifying for the knockout stage.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru are currently at the seventh spot with six wins in their 13 outings and has a NRR of +0.387. RCB need to not only have to win but also overtake CSK's NRR.
Chennai Super Kings, on the other hand, are currently at the fourth spot with seven wins in their 13 outings and has +0.528. A win will help them to qualify for the playoffs. Under the captaincy of Ruturaj Gaikwad, the defending champions did well in the ongoing IPL season and the team will be hoping to be alive in the season by progressing to the knockout stage of the tournament.
However, the rain is likely to spoilsport in the night. If the match gets washed out or shortened game would not produce any result, then CSK will make it to the playoffs with 15 points while RCB's campaign will end in the league stage.
Squads:
RCB: Faf du Plessis, Rajat Patidar, Saurav Chauhan, Suyash Prabhudessai, Virat Kohli, Cameron Green, Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar, Swapnil Singh, Tom Curran, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Akash Deep, Alzarri Joseph, Himanshu Sharma, Karn Sharma, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Siraj, Rajan Kumar, Vyshak Vijay Kumar, Yash Dayal
CSK: Ajinkya Rahane, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sameer Rizvi, Shaik Rasheed, Ajay Mandal, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner, Moeen Ali, Nishant Sindhu, Rachin Ravindra, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Shivam Dube, Aravelly Avanish, MS Dhoni, Deepak Chahar, Maheesh Theekshana, Mukesh Choudhary, Prashant Solanki, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Richard Gleeson, Simarjeet Singh, Tushar Deshpande
