The Indian Premier League 2019 or IPL 2019 opens with the clash of the titans at the M A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai with Royal Challengers Bangalore playing hosts Chennai Super Kings. M S Dhoni who has lead several winning campaigns in the league would love to outwit Virat Kohli who is looking for his first title. With the amount of fan following these two sides and particularly the two captains enjoy, the contest is generating quite a buzz. Defending champions CSK are slow starters despite being a very consistent showing over the years. RCB would be looking to unleash its strong magical batting unit on a pretty flat Chennai pitch to start off with a win. Here we take a look at the outcome of the last six meetings between the two star studded teams in the Indian Premier League. IPL 2019 Schedule in PDF: Download VIVO Indian Premier League 12 Full Timetable With Fixtures, Matches, Team and Venue Details.
RCB vs CSK – 24th May 2014 – M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore – CSK won by 8 wickets
RCB skipper Virat Kohli scored a brilliant 73 with little contribution from the rest of the team to take his team’s total to 154 while batting first. In reply, the Chennai Super Kings on the back of some brilliant batting by MS Dhoni and Faf Du Plessis chased down the total without any hiccups. Dhoni, in particular, was showing no mercy on the opposition bowlers hitting 4 fours and 3 sixes.
RCB vs CSK – 22nd April 2015 – M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore – CSK won by 27 runs
Suresh Raina went hammer and tongs against RCB helping his side post a competitive total of 181 in their innings. The left-handed batsman needed only 32 balls to get to 62 runs and hit 6 mighty sixes in his innings. The Royal Challengers Bangalore while chasing kept on losing wickets which meant they were never in the tie despite Kohli’s fifty meaning they lost by 27 runs.
CSK vs RCB – 4th May 2015 – M A Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai – CSK win by 24 runs
Low scoring ties in the IPL seldom disappoint and this game between Chennai and Bangalore followed a similar pattern. CSK had a batting collapse batting first with Suresh Raina’s 52 the only highlight in their innings. CSK pacer Ashish Nehra produced one of the spells of the IPL claiming three RCB wickets and DJ Bravo chipped in with a brace to restrict RCB to a mere 124 helping the home side win the game by 24 runs. IPL 2019: Here’s a Look at Some Records and Stats Ahead of Indian Premier League Season 12.
RCB vs CSK – 22nd May 2015 – JSCA Stadium, Ranchi – CSK won by 3 wickets
The boys from Chennai showed their big game calibre in qualifier 2 of the 2015 IPL with a 3 wicket win over RCB. They were set a target of 140 runs by RCB who fumbled batting first with Gayle’s 41 the only thing to talk about. But Virat Kohli marshalled his troops well defending a low score but ultimately it proved futile with CSK advancing to the finals.
RCB vs CSK – 25th April 2018 – M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore – CSK won by 5 wickets
When Royal Challengers Bangalore put on a massive 205 runs on board they had a little inkling they would go on to lose the game. But that is exactly what happened as some brutal hitting by MS Dhoni and Ambati Rayudu made sure CSK chased won the mammoth total with two balls to spare. While Dhoni remained unbeaten on 70, Rayudu was unfortunately run out for 82. IPL 2019 Schedule in PDF: Download VIVO Indian Premier League 12 Full Timetable With Fixtures, Matches, Team and Venue Details.
CSK vs RCB – 5th May 2018 – MCA Stadium, Pune – CSK won by 6 wickets
CSK defeated RCB in a very one-sided game in their home away from home- the MCA Stadium Pune. The Chennai spinners Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja took 5 wickets between them to restrict the visitors to 127-9 in the innings which they chased down with ease in 18 overs. If not for Tim Southee’s 36 coming lower down the order, Bangalore could have well folded under hundred runs.
Things are looking ominous for Virat Kohli who has not won a game against Mahendra Singh Dhoni in his last six attempts.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 23, 2019 11:30 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).