Defending champions Chennai Super Kings would need to lift themselves after a nightmarish start to the season as they target their first win of IPL 2022 when they take on a high-flying Royal Challengers Bangalore at the DY Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai on Tuesday.
In words of head coach Stephen Fleming, CSK's self-belief is shaken after four losses in a row. On the other hand, RCB are sitting pretty on fourth place with three wins from their first four games.
The four-time champions haven't played the cricket they are known for under skipper Ravindra Jadeja, who has not been able to lead from the front.
The seniors in the team including Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu and Dwayne Bravo need to step up in this crisis situation.
CSK have only posted one 200 plus score so far while scoring sub-par totals in the other three games.
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, while all-rounders Moeen Ali and Shivam Dube will have to take more responsibility.
Fleming admitted that the side is facing two-fold problems -- unavailability of Deepak Chahar due to injury and and a below-par show in all departments.
"There has been issues of player availability and we have been pretty much below par in all departments -- batting, bowling and fielding. We have been distant second in all games and we need to improve in all departments - that's pretty much it," Fleming had said summing up his team's show.
Apart from veteran Dwayne Bravo, CSK bowlers have been way off the mark.
They need to find the right bowling combination having tried many options in the first four games.
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.
RCB's top three are in good form, with skipper Faf Du Plessis top run-getter for the team with 138 runs in four games.
Dinesh Karthik has played his role as finisher to perfection and engineer-turned cricketer Shahbaz Ahmed has also impressed with his batting so far.
Among the bowlers, Hasaranga has picked eight wickets from four games at an economy rate of 7.5, while Harshal Patel has done exceedingly well to take six wickets at an economy rate of 5.5.
Teams:
Chennai Super Kings: Ravindra Jadeja (captain), Mahendra Singh Dhoni, 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: Faf du Plessis (captain), Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, 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.
Match starts at 7.30pm IST.
