The Royal Challengers Bangalore have won the toss against Chennai Super Kings and have elected to bowl first. CSK made one change to their lineup bringing Pathirana in place of injured Magala. Ben Stokes remains to be ruled out due to his injury.
Why is Ben Stokes not playing today?
Ben Stokes missed the game against Mumbai due to a slight toe injury, according to CSK. In spite of his concerns about a knee issue, the England all-rounder participated in both of the first two games, scoring 15 runs with the bat and bowling an over against Lucknow Super Giants.
His ongoing absence from the Yellow Army is a serious setback after the four-time IPL Champions invested a significant lot of money in him—Rs 16.25 crore. Stokes won’t take the risk of playing in an IPL match because the Ashes series begins in June, and if he isn’t fully healthy, his return to the starting XI may be postponed.
What did the captains say at the toss?
MS Dhoni: The toss does matter because this is a venue where it is difficult to contain batters in the second innings. And not to forget dew. I think what’s important is not looking ahead, maybe 180-200 is a par score but we need to keep re-evaluating every 3-4 overs on where we stand and what would be a good total to get to. That is a better way to approach, rather than keeping a total in mind. One change – Magala is injured and Pathirana comes in. The good thing is all the players who have come in to replace guys have performed well. But these injuries haven’t been ideal, but that’s what happens because the IPL comes at the end of the cricket season.
Faf du Plessis: Incredible noise!! We will bowl first. I think the nature of pitches will turn, but 180-200 will be a nice target to change. It is quite a small ground and the ball travels, the surface is good and a little bit of dew could help. No changes in our starting XI but got some tricks up our sleeve for the impact player.
Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI)
Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Ambati Rayudu, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w/c), Matheesha Pathirana, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana
Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI)
Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis(c), Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Maxwell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik(w), Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Wayne Parnell, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Mohammed Siraj
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