Chennai Super Kings are still perched at the top of the table but they’ll be eager to get back to winning ways after facing two consecutive defeats © IANS
MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will take on the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Match 37 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015 at Chennai on Monday. CSK have been the strongest side in IPL 8, however, their previous couple of matches have ended in defeats, which will make them a little wary. IPL 2015 Highest run-scorer: List of best batsmen in IPL 8
RCB, on the other hand, have endured quite the opposite story. They had a horrible start but have come back strongly in the tournament. Mitchell Starc’s return after a period of injury has been the biggest blessing for the side. IPL 2015 Highest wicket-taker: List of best bowlers in IPL 8
RCB’s last to last game was against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) and they put up a strong show with the bat hammering 200 for seven in their 20 overs. However, they didn’t get a chance to have a ball because of rain, leaving the match incomplete. IPL 2015 Points Table & Team Standings
Their last match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) was once again a rain-affected match. In a 10-over a side game, KKR posted 111 runs on the board and RCB surpassed the total with seven wickets to spare and two balls in hand. Mandeep Singh played a match-saving innings for them, smashing an unbeaten 45 off 18 balls. IPL 2015 Most 6s and 4s: List of most dangerous batsmen in IPL 8
Starc’s bowling in the match was again quite phenomenal, when he conceded just 15 off two overs and also taking a wicket. They’ll want him to continue bowling that way against CSK. Incidentally, even CSK played recently against KKR and they came out on the wrong side of the result in a last-over thriller. IPL 2015 schedule: IPL 8 match time table with venue details
Their previous encounter – against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) – resulted in another defeat. They conceded 192 runs to SRH, with Mohit Sharma bleeding 58 runs off his four overs and going wicketless. They responded well with the bat but not well enough as they managed to get to 170 for six in their 20 overs falling 22 runs short. IPL 2015 Leading fielders: List of Best fielders in IPL 8
CSK are still perched at the top of the table but they’ll be eager to get back to winning ways after facing two consecutive defeats. For RCB, a win is more significant with more than just pride at stake. Victory in the match will make them top contenders for a spot in the top four. They have the fire power to topple any side, and if they play to their potential, CSK will have a tough time arresting their progress. Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015: Complete coverage
Squads:
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (c&wk), Michael Hussey, Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Smith, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Dwayne Bravo, IrfanPathan, RavindraJadeja, MithunManhas, PawanNegi, RavichandranAshwin, Samuel Badree, Mohit Sharma, IshwarPandey, Matt Henry, Rahul Sharma, Andrew Tye, AshishNehra, Pratyush Singh, AnkushBains, Ronit More, Baba Aparajith, EklavyaDwivedi, Kyle Abbott.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (c), Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Darren Sammy, Mitchell Starc, Dinesh Karthik, Subramanium Badrinath, Sean Abbott, Adam Milne, Nic Maddinson, Ashok Dinda, Manvinder Bisla, Varun Aaron, Vijay Zol, Sarfaraz Khan, Jalaj Saxena, Shishir Bhavane, Iqbal Abdullah, David Wiese, Rilee Rossouw, Abu Nechim, Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sandeep Warrier, Yogesh Takawale, Jalaj Saxena.
Time: 16:00 local time | 10:30 GMT
(Rishad D’Souza, a reporter with CricketCountry, gave up hopes of playing Test cricket after a poor gully-cricket career. He now reports on the sport. You can follow @RDcric on Twitter)