NEW DELHI: Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bowl first against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their Indian Premier League match on Saturday. CSK retained their previous match playing XI for this contest. RCB will look to bolster their standing in the IPL points table while CSK are already out of contention for the playoffs. RCB had beaten CSK by 50 runs in Chennai in their earlier match in the tournament.
“We are looking to bowl first. We want to make the most of the last four games we have got. Try to look into next year and which individual will fit into what role. Yes we want to win games but getting the most of the four games is important. It seems tacky, must have been under covers for quite some time and other than that it is a venue where scoring runs is easy. It is a high-scoring venue and after the initial start it will be quite good to bat on,” Dhoni said during the toss.
“It is important to express but the batters need to play to their strengths, if you are bowler don’t think what if the execution is not right, make a plan and bowl with full confidence. (Powerplay plans) Let it be plans Ravi Bhai (laughs). Same team,” he said.
RCB replaced Josh Hazlewood with Lungi Ngidi.
“We would have fielded as well. But the wicket will not change that much. We will try to put a good total on the board and keep them under pressure. Everyone is in a good frame of mind and doing their roles, as a captain I am very confident in my boys. Till now many players have performed for the team and that is a good sign. We have 4 games and we will try our best in all the games. Every game is important from now, we are not looking at qualification and we will try our best in all four games. One change – Ngidi comes in for Josh,” Patidar said during the toss.
PLAYING XIs:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI): Jacob Bethell, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Lungi Ngidi, Yash Dayal
Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Shaik Rasheed, Ayush Mhatre, Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja, Dewald Brevis, Deepak Hooda, MS Dhoni(w/c), Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Anshul Kamboj, Matheesha Pathirana
Here are the Impact substitutes for both the teams:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Impact Subs: Suyash Sharma, Liam Livingstone, Rasikh Dar Salam, Manoj Bhandage, Swapnil Singh
Chennai Super Kings Impact Subs: Shivam Dube, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Jamie Overton
