Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to bowl first in the marquee clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on March 28 at MA Chidambaram Stadium. Both teams have made one change each as Matheesha Pathirana has been named as Nathan Ellis’ replacement in the CSK squad while Bhuvneshwar Kumar has come in place of Rasikh Salam Dar in the RCB squad. Notably, it was in 2010 when the India international last played for the Bengaluru-based franchise.
Bhuvneshwar never featured for RCB in the cash-rich league but has played one game for them in the Champions League. He was bought for INR 10.75 crore in the IPL auction and missed the opening game of the season against Kolkata Knight Riders due to a minor niggle.
“We had decided to bowl first. It will not make much difference, the surface looks hard, we will try to put up a total and keep them under pressure. The boys did well in the last game. We have to be at our best in every game and we will try to do that today also. The bowling unit after 13 overs.. the way they came back was amazing to see, the intent shown by the batting side was good. It is one of the biggest games in the league because of the fans it makes it fun and exciting. One change - Bhuvi comes in for Rasikh,” RCB captain Rajat Patidar said after the toss.
Meanwhile, CSK head coach Stephen Fleming didn’t confirm Pathirana’s availability ahead of the RCB game. He noted that the Sri Lanka international was still recovering but the cricketer ended up featuring in the XI.
“We are going to bowl first. I think it will play slightly better than the last game. So far there hasn't been any dew, we don't know when the dew will arrive and it is not in our control. There are areas; we were sitting behind in the field and would like to be more aggressive, batting wise we can be more clinical. We have just got one change - Pathirana comes back for Ellis,” Ruturaj Gaikwad said after the toss.
Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda, Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Noor Ahmad, Matheesha Pathirana, Khaleel Ahmed
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI): Virat Kohli, Philip Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Daya