What

It will be a South Indian derby when the Royal Challengers Bangalore clash with the Chennai Super Kings in Match 20 of Pepsi IPL 2015.

Both teams lost their respective previous matches and will be keen to get back to winning ways. RCB opened their campaign in spectacular fashion beating the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders before losing two on the bounce – against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians. Bowling has been a huge worry for the hosts – who have the poorest economy of all the eight competing teams, and the arrival of Mitchell Starc is sure to add plenty of sting to it.

CSK, who were aiming to stretch their winning streak to 4 matches, were stopped in their tracks by Rajasthan Royals. After posting 156 runs on the board, CSK struggled to separate the RR opening pair of Shane Watson and Ajinkya Rahane – who would go on to post the highest-ever partnership against CSK – and ended up suffering a 8-wicket defeat. Fielding coach Steve Rixon said the defeat served as a wake-up call, but also expressed confidence that his team would be back on the tracks in this match. “To be beaten so well indicated we need to shake ourselves up a bit and we are aware of that. We are on the track to do that and we will get it right in this particular game,” Rixon said on the eve of the match.

When

22 April 2015, 8p.m. IST

Where

M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

The Protagonists

RCB have plenty of ammunition on the batting front; the addition of the South African all-rounder David Wiese has added further depth to a batting line-up that already boasts of Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. The one individual who will be followed closely in this match is Mitchell Starc, who was named the “Player of the Tournament” in the recently concluded World Cup 2015.

Chennai Super Kings will bank on their top three to get cracking. Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Smith and Suresh Raina will be keen to make the most of the usually fantastic batting strip at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Contests to look-forward to

Mitchell Starc’s fantastic first over in the final of the World Cup 2015, in which he dismissed Brendon McCullum for a third-ball duck, set the tone for Australia’s victory. Now, the Kiwi captain will face up against the left-armer yet again, and will be keen to settle the score.

CSK have in their ranks two bowlers – Dwayne Bravo and R Ashwin – who have dismissed Chris Gayle more often than others in Twenty20 cricket. Bravo has dismissed the left-hander on five occasions, while Ashwin has seen the back of the Jamaican batsman on four occasions.

Previous Meetings

The head-to-head between RCB and CSK stands at 7 wins for RCB and 9 wins for CSK.

When these two teams met last season, the honours were shared. While RCB clinched the honours in the first meeting in Ranchi, CSK rode on an unbeaten 75-run partnership between opener Faf du Plessis and captain MS Dhoni to register a comprehensive eight wicket win.

Trivia

This match could feature four players with more than 100 IPL caps. Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni have featured in 119 and 116 IPL matches so far, while Virat Kohli has appeared in 110 IPL matches. Dinesh Karthik, now part of the RCB lineup, has played a total of 109 IPL matches.

Chennai Super Kings have the best scoring rate of all teams in Pepsi IPL 2015 – 9.18.

Royal Challengers Bangalore have picked up the fewest wickets of all teams in Pepsi IPL 2015. In their three matches so far, they have only managed to dismiss 15 batsmen.

RCB have picked up only one wicket by means of the ‘Bowled’ dismissal. On the other hand, 9 of their batsmen have been dismissed ‘Bowled’.

What Next

The Royal Challengers Bangalore head westwards to Ahmedabad to clash with the Rajasthan Royals on April 24. The Chennai Super Kings meanwhile head back to HQ – the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai – to host Kings XI Punjab on April 25.