Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore seek middle-order boost

It's quite clear what's ailing the Chennai Super Kings this season. Their batting, especially the middle order, has been the major weak link in their four losses. They have scored at 7.6 runs per over in the powerplay this year- the second lowest among all teams - and they tend to slow down further in the middle overs. Their middle-overs run rate of 7.5 is the second worst among all teams this season and it has not worked well with their tradition of taking the games deep, especially given the fact that they've had to chase in all the six games this season. In the match against the Kolkata Knight Riders, they didn't play like a team that had chased down 178 with ten wickets to spare in their previous game against the Kings XI Punjab.

The only team that has worse numbers than the Super Kings in the middle overs are the Royal Challengers Bangalore. The Royal Challengers' batting struggles cost them their last match against the Delhi Capitals. They lost three wickets within the powerplay, and with the asking rate soaring, their captain Virat Kohli couldn't help much, with hardly any support from the other end, as they eventually lost by 59 runs. While both sides will want improvements from their middle orders, the Royal Challengers have also been struggling with their death bowling, which has been a long-standing issue for them. Their bowlers have conceded at 12.9 - the second-worst behind Kings XI Punjab - this season.

Kedar Jadhav in particular has come in for sharp criticism for his 7 off 12 balls against the Knight Riders, having arrived with 39 needed off 21 balls. Among all teams Jadhav has featured for in IPL, his performance for the Super Kings has been the worst - he has averaged 20.3 in 17 matches. He has the lowest strike rate (98) for a player batting in top seven (minumum 15 innings) since IPL 2018. The Super Kings have always been a team who've kept faith in their players, but will they make some big calls and tinker with their XI to put their campaign back on track?

The Royal Challengers' captain Kohli said after the game on Monday that allrounder Chris Morris was "very close to playing". If he's fit, he could come in for Isuru Udana or Moeen Ali and help fix their death bowling.

Chennai Super Kings: 1 Shane Watson, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Ambati Rayudu, 4 Kedar Jadhav, 5 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Sam Curran, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Deepak Chahar, 11 Karn Sharma/Piyush Chawla

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Devdutt Padikkal, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 AB de Villiers (wk), 5 Moeen Ali, 6 Washington Sundar,7 Shivam Dube, 8 Chris Morris, 9 Navdeep Saini, 10 Mohammad Siraj, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal