With IPL 2019 just around the corner, the excitement is sky high amongst the fans. The Tournament is all set to open with two of the biggest Teams, Chennai Super Kings led by MS Dhoni and Royal Challengers Bangalore led by Virat Kohli taking on each other on the 23rd of March at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

So far, the Chennai Super Kings have been the most successful side in the IPL winning three IPL titles. They have plenty of experience in their side and that is the USP of this team. One important reason why Chennai Super Kings have tasted so much success is that they have managed to keep their core team intact for a long time. This year again, they have not made too many changes through transfers or Auction and have gone with almost the same squad.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore, on the other hand, have always been a team with big names, but have not managed to win the title yet. They have been a batting heavy side and hence have managed to pile up the runs through their batting, but the bowling has been the area of concern. To go with this, the unpredictable pitch that Bangalore has produced in the last two years has not helped their cause. But they do have the performers and will hope that this is the year for them to cherish.

How did the Auction go for both teams?

Chennai Super Kings after having a dream comeback in 2018 didn’t really have to change much. If anything they would have wanted some depth in the Indian pace bowling department and hence went for Mohit Sharma, who was the only major buy in this year's Auction.

Royal Challengers Bangalore, on the other hand, started out with a lot of hopes, but unfortunately, things didn’t go as per plan and finished 6th. They went on to buy 9 players at the auction trying to fill a few gaps. Some of the exciting names that they got were Shimron Hetmyer, H Klaasen, Shivam Dube. They also got Marcus Stoinis as a transfer who is a good all-rounder.

Head to Head 

Looking at Chennai Super Kings Vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, these two teams have faced each other 23 times, out of which Chennai Super Kings has won 15 matches and Royal Challengers Bangalore have 7 victories to their name. There was one game that had no result.
Looking further, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai Super Kings have won 6 out of the 7 matches played against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Player Pick

Shane Watson, for the Chennai Super Kings, has been in great form coming into this IPL. He was the leading run scorer for the Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super league, getting 430 runs at an average of 43.00 and a strike rate of 143.81. Last year, in the only match that took place at Chennai against the Kolkata Knight Riders, he scored a rapid 42 of just 19 balls, to go with 2 wickets as well. He could also provide a valuable bowling option for MS Dhoni if he is fit.

Shimron Hetmyer, for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, with his extravagant batting style has managed to impress everyone and is also a player to watch out for this IPL. Late 2018, when the West Indies visited India, Hetmyer was one of the top performers in the one-day series scoring 259 runs at an average of 51.80 and a staggering strike rate of 140.00. This was one of the main reasons teams went after him in the auction and the Royal Challengers Bangalore finally managed to get him at Rs 4.20 Crore. If he gets going, it will definitely be a treat to watch.

Possible Playing XI

Lungi Ngidi, who was set to spearhead the attack, will not be available for CSK in this IPL due to an injury.  Hence, CSK could either go with David Willey who also provides a batting option, or could get Imran Tahir and play another Indian pace bowler like Shardul Thakur/ Mohit Sharma.

CSK (possible): 1 Shane Watson, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Ambati Rayudu,5 MS Dhoni (c) (wk), 6 Kedar Jadhav, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Ravindra Jadeja , 9 David Willey/Mohit Sharma, 10 Deepak Chahar, 11 Karn Sharma/Imran Tahir

Royal Challengers Bangalore will not have Marcus Stoinis and Nathan Coulter-Nile available to start off the tournament. But they do have depth in the squad who should fulfill the roles.

RCB (possible): 1 Parthiv Patel, 2 Virat Kohli, 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Shimron Hetmyer, 5 Moeen Ali, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Tim Southee, 8 Washington Sundar,  9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal

Pitch Expectation

Chennai is traditionally known to produce flat pitches and might offer some assistance for the spinners. But with two batting heavy teams taking on each other, there could be plenty of runs scored in the match.

Prediction

Chennai Super Kings will start as favorites considering they will be playing at home and also citing the history between the two teams.
Having said that, players like Virat Kohli, Ab de Villiers, Shimron Hetmyer are the kind of players who can single-handedly win a game for their team and hence can never count the Royal Challengers Bangalore out of the game.