CSK opt bowl vs RCB in Chennai; Pathirana, Bhuvneshwar back

Toss Chennai Super Kings (CSK) opt to bowl vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)

Amid loud cheers ringing C-S-K, C-S-K, home captain Ruturaj Gaikwad won the toss and elected to chase. Gaikwad said the pitch was going to be a little better than the first game when 155 was chased down in the last over.

Both sides welcomed back their main fast bowlers. For CSK, Matheesha Pathirana replaced Nathan Ellis, who made an impressive CSK debut. Sam Curran was retained, which underlines CSK's love for allrounders. He will need to be better than he was in the first game. Shivam Dube was expected to be their Impact Player in the chase.

RCB brought in Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who missed the last game with a niggle. He replaced Rasikh Salam in the XI. They retained Devdutt Padikkal, who is not the best out there against spin. Legspinner Suyash Sharma was their likely Impact Player for the defence.

That made RCB captain Rajat Patidar the key batter. Him against spin is the contest that could direct the whole match. Noor Ahmad started off beautifully for CSK with figures of 4-0-18-4 against MI. RCB are a team of pace-hitters. If Patidar can attack Noor, he can set the cat among the pigeons, which could even result in Ravindra Jadeja not bowling out. If Patidar gets out early, CSK could choke RCB.

RCB haven't won a single game in Chennai against CSK ever since the first IPL in 2008. Even overall, their record stood at 11-22 against CSK.

Chennai Super Kings: 1 Rachin Ravindra, 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Deepak Hooda, 5 Sam Curran, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 MS Dhoni (wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Matheesha Pathirana, 10 Noor Ahmad, 11 Khaleel Ahmad

Substitutes: Shivam Dube, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Vijay Shankar, Jamie Overton, Shaik Rasheed

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Phil Salt, 3 Rajat Patidar (capt), 4 Devdutt Padikkal, 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 7 Tim David, 8 Krunal Pandya, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Yash Dayal

Substitutes: Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Dar, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh