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in the death overs and that’s where Hazlewood has to step up and take responsibility.
In the clash of heavyweights, all eyes will be on Faf du Plessis who spent glorious years at Chennai but is now leading their rivals Royal Challengers Bangalore. The two teams have very big fanbases and the Yellow Army supporters were not pleased with their team’s decision to let go of Du Plessis who was a pillar for them at the top of the batting order. CSK are going through a rough patch with no wins in the first four matches, the defending champions have not been able to find the right balance in the squad. With Deepak Chahar getting ruled out, they lack wicket-taking options with the new ball.
On the other hand, rejuvenated RCB have played some collective cricket so far this season which has been reflected in their results. They have won three out of four matches this season and look like a well-balanced unit with batting and bowling finally complimenting each other.
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The CSK batters will have to face a potent RCB bowling attack including the likes of spinner Wanindu Hasaranga, David Willey and Mohammed Siraj. Young Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has had a miserable season so far, will need to step up and deliver and also all-rounders Moeen Ali and Shivam Dube will have to take more responsibility.
Apart from veteran Dwayne Bravo, CSK bowlers have been way off the mark. They need to get the bowling combination right having tried many options.
Another key weak-link is Mukesh Choudhary, who has been leaking runs. Unless CSK find the right combination, RCB would be expected to run away with the game.
A buoyant RCB, however, are ticking all the boxes. Opener Anuj Rawat, who hit his maiden IPL fifty, came to the party against Mumbai Indians, while Virat Kohli also got much needed runs.
Skipper Faf Du Plessis can take any attack to cleaners and the top-three too are in good form.
Dinesh Karthik is the firing finisher for RCB and engineer-turned cricketer Shahbaz Ahmed has also impressed with his batting so far.
Full Squads
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja (Captain), Moeen Ali, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Ambati Rayadu, Robin Uthappa, Mitchell Santner, Chris Jordan, Adam Milne, Devon Conway, Shivam Dube, Dwaine Pretorius, Maheesh Theekshana, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Tushar Deshpande, KM Asif, C Hari Nishaanth, N Jagadeesan, Subranshu Senapati, K Bhagath Verma, Prashant Solanki, Simarjeet Singh, Mukesh Choudhary.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, Faf du Plessis, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dinesh Karthik, Josh Hazlewood, Shahbaz Ahmed, Anuj Rawat, Akash Deep, Mahipal Lomror, Finn Allen, Sherfane Rutherford, Jason Behrendorff, Suyash Prabhudesai, Chama Milind, Aneeshwar Gautam, Karn Sharma, David Willey, Rajat Patidar, Siddharth Kaul.
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