Having suffered a morale-sapping nine-wicket loss at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their first game since the resumption of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 season, the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will hope to get right back on track when they take on Chennai Super Kings (CSK), captained by MS Dhoni, at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Friday.
RCB were bowled out for a paltry total of 92 runs in their game against KKR, with the latter chasing down the target with nine wickets and 10 overs to spare.
Kohli was bowled out for 5 while AB de Villiers fell for a golden duck as RCB batsmen failed to put up a fight against KKR. Both these star batsmen will hope to deliver the goods against a strong CSK side.
Devdutt Padikkal will hope to continue his impressive campaign while the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, Kyle Jamieson will be crucial with the ball.
For CSK, a win would propel them to the top of the standings, above Delhi Capitals on net run rate, and significantly bolster their playoff hopes.
The Dhoni-led team defeated defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) by 20 runs in their first game since resumption of the season, and will look to add another couple of points against RCB.
Ruturaj Gaikwad hit an impressive unbeaten knock of 88 against MI and will be key to the team's hopes again.
The likes of Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis bring tremendous experience to the side while Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja can contribute with both bat and ball. Josh Hazlewood, Deepak Chahar, among others, will hope to shine with the ball.
