Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) are chasing a heist as they take on CSK in the IPL 2024 campaign opener at the Chepauk on March 22. Historically they have won just one match at the Chepauk against the defending champions.
They have their backs to the wall as they try to break the Chennai Super Kings fortress. RCB has won 10 out of the 31 IPL games against Chennai. Heading into this season, they are once again looking a batting-heavy side. The franchise made back-to-back playoffs in IPL 2021 and 2022.
The lack of good Indian spinners is another major problem for the franchise. They have only one prominent Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj who has done a lot of bowling in recent times. Over the years, they have released the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, and Josh Hazlewood.
Their batting is also top-heavy with only Dinesh Karthik as the experienced batter in the middle-order. The top order looks good with Kohli, Faf, Rajat Patidat, Cameron Green and Glenn Maxwell. They will have to almost step up every game given their weakness in the bowling ranks.
Alzarri Joseph (Rs. 11.50 crore), Yash Dayal (Rs. 5 crore), Tom Curran (Rs. 1.5 crore), Lockie Ferguson (Rs. 2 crore), Swapnil Singh (Rs. 20 lakh), Saurav Chauhan (Rs. 20 lakh) were the players they bought in the auction. In this article, we predict the Royal Challengers Bangalore playing XI against CSK for the opening game.
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RCB Playing 11 vs CSK- IPL 2024, Match 1
Virat Kohli
Kohli will open the batting for RCB. He is coming back to playing competitive cricket after a long break. He missed the England Test series due to personal reasons. Kohli scored 639 runs last season at an average of 53.25.
Faf du Plessis (C)
Faf will lead RCB and open the batting. He finished as the second-highest run-getter last season with 730 runs from 14 games at an average of 56.15. He needs to replicate his heroics if Bangalore is to win the IPL.
Cameron Green
Cameron Green is expected to bat at number three for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the lineup. The batting-heavy side has always boasted of power-hitters at the top. He scored 452 runs for Mumbai Indians last season.
Rajat Patidar
Patidar will slot in at four as the top-order Indian batter. He had a forgetful Test series against England where he scored just 63 runs in three Test matches but he would look to put that behind him. He has scored over 400 runs for the franchise.
Glenn Maxwell
Maxwell will bat at five. He has scored over 1000 runs for RCB having played for the franchise since 2021. His best for RCB came in IPL 2021 when he scored 513 runs at a strike rate of 144.10. He has a chance to get to 3000 IPL runs this season.
Dinesh Karthik (WK)
DK will slot in at six. He has not played any international cricket for a long time. Recently he had the best strike rate at the Vijay Hazara Trophy where he scored at over 108 in the 50-over domestic tournament. There are reports that this might be his last IPL season. He scored at a strike rate of over 180 in IPL 2022.
Karn Sharma
Karn Sharma slots in at seven as the specialist spinners. They are very thin on the spin. Glenn Maxwell will need to bowl alongside Sharma as the off-spinner. He picked 10 wickets for the franchise last season.
Mohammed Siraj
Md Siraj will be one of the two Indian pacers in the XI. RCB have nine pacers in their squad overall but at max, they can only play two Indian seamers. Siraj picked up 19 wickets last season and has picked up 68 wickets for RCB thus far.
Akash Deep
Akash Deep might be the second pacer in the lineup. He recently played in the Test series against England and made his Test debut at Ranchi impressing the national selectors. He picked up six wickets last season.
Reece Topley
Topley might be one of the two overseas pacers. He was ruled out midway last season with a thumb injury. He can bowl with the new ball as he swings the ball in the early overs.
Alzarri Joseph / Lockie Ferguson
Royal Challengers Bangalore can include one among the two bowlers to conclude their XI. Both bowlers have different skill sets but can be expensive.
Impact Sub- Mahipal Lomror / Anuj Rawat
With five specialist bowlers in the side, RCB can look forward to either of Mahipal Lomror or Auj Rawat as the impact sub. Both are left-handed batters and thus can break the monotony at the top order if needed.
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