Can Royal Challengers Bangalore lift themselves up against buoyant Chennai Super Kings?
After the first round of matches in the UAE, Super Kings appear to be a far superior side than Royal Challengers
Kohli's men have won two of their last five matches against Super Kings • BCCI/IPL
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On paper, this is a clash between two top sides who both have had good results in IPL 2021 so far. But, after the first round of matches since IPL 2021 re-started, there appears to be a wider gulf between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore than a difference of just two points suggests. Super Kings outdid Mumbai Indians at their own game, seemingly dead and buried but rising, like Undertaker in WWE, to deliver chokeslams and tombstone piledrivers to the defending champions. Royal Challengers, on the other hand, sank to one of their heaviest defeats against Kolkata Knight Riders.In the news
Sam Curran ought to have completed his mandatory quarantine period, which means he is available for Super Kings. The question is, who can they drop among Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Dwayne Bravo and Josh Hazlewood to fit Curran in? They will also have to balance that with Ambati Rayudu's fitness. His X-ray showed no broken bones, but he did sustain a bad bruise on his left elbow. If Rayudu is still not match-fit, there is a replacement available in Robin Uthappa. Super Kings could think of bringing in Curran for du Plessis too. Otherwise, there could be a straight swap of Curran for Bravo, though that would be extremely harsh on Bravo.Likely XIs
Chennai Super Kings: 1 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 2 Moeen Ali, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 MS Dhoni (capt, wk), 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Sam Curran, 8 Dwayne Bravo, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Deepak Chahar, 11 Josh HazlewoodStrategy punt
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Saurabh Somani is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo