Out-of-form Chennai Super Kings will take on an inconsistent Royal Challengers Bangalore in an intriguing mid-table encounter in Dubai on Saturday.
IPL 2020 has witnessed contrasting starts from both these teams - CSK, used to early domination in the league phase, have lost four out of their six matches, while traditional slow starters RCB have won three of their five games. Both teams are coming off defeats in their last matches, and Saturday's encounter will be a battle of wits between the current and former India captains.
For CSK, barring Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson, nobody seems to be getting runs. Their batting order has been in scrutiny this year, with Sam Curran batting ahead of skipper MS Dhoni at times and the likes of Ravindra Jadeja not getting enough balls to play.
The match between CSK and RCB will also be a battle of wits between the current and former India skippers.
It will also be interesting to see what approach does CSK take with an out-of-sorts Kedar Jadhav. The India international has not contributed with the bat yet, and his strike rate has not been great either. His struggles in rotating the strike as well as hitting big shots against KKR has not gone unnoticed, and the question remains whether the Chennai franchise will back the 35-year-old or look at other options.
Skipper Dhoni's form with the bat has not been great either, and despite a few scores, his approach of delaying the assault has been one of the reasons for some of CSK's failures while chasing.
RCB, on the other hand, seem to be finding their groove, their recent loss notwithstanding. A Super Over win against Mumbai Indians was followed by a cakewalk over Rajasthan Royals, before they faltered against an in-form Delhi Capitals.
RCB will draw confidence from the roaring form of young opener Devdutt Padikkal, while Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli, and AB de Villiers have all got some decent scores.
Bowling has traditionally been RCB's problem, and while spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar have been economical and effective, pacers Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, and Navdeep Saini have all leaked runs. It will be interesting to see how an out-of-form CSK middle order plays RCB pace attack.
Here's all you need to know about when and where to watch the match between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore:
When is the 25th match of the IPL between CSK and RCB?
The 25th match of the IPL 2020 between CSK and RCB is on Saturday, 10 October 2020.
Where will the CSK vs RCB match be played?
The match will be played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai.
What time does the CSK vs RCB match start?
The match will start at 7.30 pm IST (6 pm UAE time).
Which TV channels will broadcast the KXIP vs KKR match?
All the IPL matches will be shown live on Star Sports India channels and games can also be streamed live on Disney + Hotstar. You can follow the live blog and updates on www.Firstpost.com
The Squads (From):
Chennai Super Kings full squad: MS Dhoni, Imran Tahir, Lungi Ngidi, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Murali Vijay, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Piyush Chawla, N Jagadeesan, Mitchell Santner, KM Asif, Shardul Thakur, R Sai Kishore, Faf du Plessis, Monu Kumar, Dwayne Bravo, Josh Hazlewood, Sam Curran, Karn Sharma.
Royal Challengers Bangalore full squad: Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Gurkeerat Mann, Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Adam Zampa, Dale Steyn, Isuru Udana, Moeen Ali, Pawan Negi, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Chris Morris, Pavan Deshpande, Parthiv Patel, Joshua Philippe, Shahbaz Ahmad.
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(With inputs from PTI)