Just five days ago (on October 4), Chennai Super Kings turned the overwhelming bat-first-and-win narrative in Dubai on its head. Their uplifting victory in chase - over Kings XI Punjab - came a game later than head coach Stephen Fleming would've liked after he expressed the need to play consistently at a single venue and get used to the conditions.
His team lost one and won one in Dubai since that comment, and then lost again in Abu Dhabi (to KKR) to get pushed back to the second half of the points table.
By their own admission, it's taken CSK time to get their 'muddled thinking' right as far as combinations are concerned. They're yet to win a game purely on the basis of their biggest strength - a spin strangle - but that's down to the absence of much grip on the surfaces for the spinners to cause havoc. There could yet be room for that in the backend of the league stage, but for now, the challenge will be to address the elephant in the room - the oft-missing intent in run-chases.
In Saturday's game - CSK's seventh of the season - Fleming will hope they can shake off the KKR defeat and seek continuity from their KXIP performance to validate his familiarity theory.
That, though, won't come without a fight, for RCB themselves have played four of their five matches in Dubai, with mixed results (two wins and two defeats). RCB have had a better start to the season than CSK (6 points in 5 games compared to CSK's 4 points in 6 games) but they too arrive at the back of a deflating defeat, to DC, which poked holes at what they would've considered water-tight strategising - devised in the win over Rajasthan Royals.
Virat Kohli & Co. have had a chance to relax and recover with a four-day break, but now enter into an eight-day period where they play four matches. CSK, already in the midst of a busy phase, have three fixtures in the next seven days. Now will perhaps be a good time for both the teams to clear cache and start afresh in their attempt to gallop towards a top-four spot.
When: Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, October 10, 19:30 PM IST
Where: Dubai International stadium
What to expect: Ten matches have been played in Dubai so far, with Delhi Capitals' 157 the lowest first-innings total. Fleming spoke of CSK's desire to be able to field a spin troika - of Piyush Chawla, Ravindra Jadeja and Karn Sharma - when the pitches get drier, but the league doesn't seem to have reached there yet.
Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson's flying start in Dubai, and RCB's ploy to attack the opposition in the PowerPlay with their best bowling resources to avoid cracking under pressure at the death, will make for quite a compelling viewing.
Team News
Chennai Super Kings
CSK have looked more balanced since the return of Dwayne Bravo, and find themselves in need of an approach change instead of a personnel one. Fleming has staunchly defended the plan of sending Kedar Jadhav at two-drop, anointing him as the designated No.4. But as their last game against KKR showed, there's room for some situation-based flexibility.
Probable XI: Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (c, wk), Sam Curran, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Karn Sharma
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Chris Morris is fit and ready, which means he'll take up Moeen Ali's spot in the XI. Morris's return also means there's space for another spinner. If Adam Zampa has recovered from his stomach bug, he should come in for Isuru Udana. If not, Gurkeerat Singh can reclaim his spot in place of Mohammad Siraj.
Probable XI: Aaron Finch, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers (wk), Chris Morris, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Isuru Udana/Adam Zampa, Gurkeerat Singh Mann/Mohammad Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal
Did you know:
- MS Dhoni (793 Runs) and Virat Kohli (747 Runs) are the leading run-getters against RCB and CSK respectively in the IPL.
- CSK have the wood over RCB, with seven wins in the last eight meetings. Their only defeat came last year in Bengaluru when RCB sneaked through by a run.
- Deepak Chahar has picked just two wickets in 16 overs in Powerplay this season.
- CSK pacers have picked 16 wickets in the death overs (16-20) - joint-most with MI.
What they said:
"It is a good time to reflect, let us think about what we can improve upon, according to me it's a great phase to play as we have back-to-back games, if we get some momentum we can really run through some teams." - Virat Kohli on the demanding schedule where RCB play four games in the next eight days.
"With the experience that we've got, we should've put it away. Ideally, you want one batsman to bat through... if one of those players could've got to 75-plus and continued that partnership for maybe four or five overs, the game might have been a lot different." - Head coach Stephen Fleming on CSK's failure to chase against KKR after being in a comfortable position.
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