Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru are all set to lock horns in a virtual knockout at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru as the race for the IPL 2024 playoffs intensifies further. With a handful of games left in the league stage, there are still three playoff spots left up for grabs.
CSK's win over Rajasthan Royals and then RCB's victory over Delhi Capitals has made things much more interesting now. With seven teams in the race for the playoffs, it could come down to these two fighting for one place in the top four. The stakes are pretty high with another subplot of Virat Kohli facing MS Dhoni probably for the final time makes this clash even more fascinating.
Former Indian cricketers Harbhajan Singh and Ambati Rayudu have previewed the much-anticipated clash. "A person who shows courage on match day will win the do-or-die match that day. It's important to be aggressive and calm at the same time. Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni are champion players. There is no doubt about it. And then, more importantly, they know how to play big games," Singh said in Star Sports' Press room.
He connected RCB's hard luck of not winning an IPL title to the ODI World Cups in which no team used to win in home finals before India broke that jinx in 2011. "Virat Kohli was a part of the 2011 World Cup team. Dhoni was the captain of the team. Dhoni has won a lot of trophies. Even if Virat Kohli doesn't have a trophy in his hand, if you look at the leader on the run board, he has done his job exactly the way he has been doing it every year.
So it's just a matter of one more game. He will give himself that chance. He will say that this is the game, This is the opportunity. So, I don't want to go back and think about what has already happened in the past. When we were playing the 2011 World Cup, at that time, no team that was hosting the World Cup won the World Cup. So we said that we would host and win the World Cup too, and the tradition changed from that point on. We did it. Then Australia did it. Then England did.
But after that, it happened in India. We couldn't do it, but we reached the final. All that matters is who plays well on that day? The one who handles the pressure better will be the one who plays better that day," he added.
Ambati Rayudu said that the energy Dhoni and Kohli bring to the table makes a difference for their teams. "The kind of energy that MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli bring to the set-up, the kind of positivity in terms of their own performances and their inspiration for others, will be a great thing to have in the dressing room.
And on Saturday, it will definitely boil down to the captains, Ruturaj and Faf, and what they plan or what they do on the ground. But at the end of the day, that one crucial suggestion or one crucial move in the game, that would actually make the difference. And all the teams are so good in this IPL from the last couple of seasons, there's no difference. There's not much difference between the sides. So, those one percenters will make a difference and both of them will play a crucial role," Rayudu said.
