CSK vs RCB: Three epic IPL matches

The 12th edition of the IPL is less than 10 days away and every cricket fan is geared up to witness the mega event. Due to the general elections in the country, the tournament was pre-scheduled to start on 23rd March and will go on till early May, after which the international players will travel to England for the World Cup. The auction for this edition took place in December 2018, at Jaipur. Jaydev Unadkat was again the costliest buy, with the Rajasthan Royals shelling ₹8.4 crores for him, while Varun Chakravarthy was sold to Kings XI Punjab for the same amount. The schedule for the first 17 matches was released in Feb 2019 with each team playing a minimum of 4 games, while two teams (Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore) play 5 matches. The campaign kicks off with the biggest rivalry in the IPL between RCB and Chennai Super Kings, often called the ‘El Clasico of IPL’ in Chennai. The teams have faced each other in 22 matches, with the Men in Yellow winning on 14 occasions, while RCB have managed only 7 victories. But the contest is a lot closer than what the scorecard suggests. It’s time for us to look back at the three best encounters between them:

#3 RCB vs CSK, match no.70 in Bengaluru (2013)- RCB won by 24 runs:

This was a must-win game for RCB as they faced CSK at the Chinnaswamy stadium to keep their playoff hopes alive. The unpredictable Bengaluru weather played its part with the match getting reduced to 8-overs-a-side. RCB batted first and put up 106 in 8 overs, thanks to captain Virat Kohli’s 56 off 29 deliveries. He promoted himself up the order and opened the innings for the team which proved to be a difference. Dhoni’s plan of bowling Ashwin initially to counter Chris Gayle didn’t bear fruit as the duo put up 67 runs in 5.2 overs, which was followed by a cameo by Moises Henriques that took the team to a winnable total. In reply, CSK didn’t get the start they needed as they lost two wickets in the second over. Vijay was the top scorer with 32 runs in 19 balls, but that wasn’t enough. Captain Dhoni’s efforts (24 off 10) went in vain as the visitors lost the match by 24 runs.

Also see: CSK vs RCB head to head