CSK and RCB will be locking horns tonight (September 24) at Sharjah.
As CSK are coming off a great win over defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) whereas RCB lost their UAE-leg opener against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), a lot of fans and pundits backed the Chennai-based franchise to come out on top in today’s clash.
The former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar is one of them as he recently shared his thoughts with Dafa News on RCB-CSK match in a preview video.
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“A good matchup. It's one of those high-profile games in the Indian Premier League but it's not just the rustiness that we saw from RCB, overall CSK looks a better team. They have a lot of batting depth and a lot of bowling options as well. So yeah, I think that Chennai might triumph but who knows, we have to wait for the action,” Manjrekar said.
The former right-handed batter then pointed out inability of CSK batters to adapt to the pitch during their match against MI where they lost heaps of early wickets.
“Couple of players in Chennai need to really come to terms with the pace and bounce on the pitches we're going to have. And you know how Mumbai went on Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu, who were slightly intimidated with the short-ball stuff. Bangalore has that quick attack for these two guys. They have to raise their game,” the cricketer-turned-commentator said.
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The Mumbai-based cricketer then spotted the difference between the two sides locking horns at Sharjah and also explained the dependency of RCB on the trio of Kohli, De Villiers, and Maxwell.
“The big difference in Bangalore and Chennai is when you look at the batters of Chennai, there is a more ability there. RCB, despite having depth on paper, still have to rely heavily on Kohli, de Villiers and Maxwell. So it is very important for these guys to fire,” the 46-year-old concluded.
The three-time champions have the upper hand over RCB when it comes to head-to-head record as CSK has won 18 times as compared to RCB’s 9 wins with one game having no result in 28 occasions the two teams have faced each other in IPL history.