IPL 2025 | Heavyweight duel sans usual spark

Bengaluru: Under normal circumstances, Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Chennai Super Kings would be one of the heavyweight clashes of the IPL. Despite the scales tipped heavily in favour of five-time champions CSK, their battle against trophy-less RCB was always a box-office draw.

There would be a mad scramble for tickets irrespective of where the contest was with deep-pocketed fans willing to splurge exorbitant amount to get a seat at the venue. Social media would go on an overdrive with banter from either side. In a nut shell, RCB vs CSK always was a sought-after affair.

Case in point was the clash at the Chinnaswamy Stadium last May where RCB defeated CSK to grab the final available play-off spot in an humdinger. Ecstatic Royal Challengers fans partied all night, unloading all the pent-up frustration on their counterparts with the central business district area turning completely chaotic. Forced to swallow their pride, CSK fans then wasted no time in belittling RCB when their bitter rivals lost in the Eliminator.

Most of that spice could be missing when the two forces, sitting at different ends of the table, collide here on Saturday. Royal Challengers, riding on sizzling away form where they’ve won six from as many games, sit pretty with 14 points from 10 matches while bottom-placed Super Kings, enduring their worst run ever in the history of the tournament, have already crashed out of the play-off race with just 4 points from 10 games.

Nothing has gone right for the Super Kings with even the talismanic MS Dhoni, considered the man with the Midas touch, unable to script a turnaround after regaining the captaincy from the injured Ruturaj Gaikwad mid season. 

Royal Challengers, in a mad scramble with seven teams for the four play-off spots, couldn’t have asked for a better opponent to strengthen their knock out chances. A win would take them to 16 points, normally considered as the qualifying mark for the play-offs. However, given how tightly bunched the top five teams are heading into the home straight, RCB wound’t want to slip-up that could complicate matters.

Royal Challengers will yet again be banking on their in-form top order comprising Virat Kohli (443) and Devdutt Padikkal (230) to deliver the goods. There's still no clarity on the availability of explosive opener Phil Salt (239), who missed the last game due to illness. Padikkal and two-drop Rajat Patidar (228) have played wonderful support cast while Tim David and Jitesh Sharma have lent the necessary fireworks at the death.

For a change, RCB bowling has also looked like a well-oiled machine. Australian Josh Hazlewood has led the bowling like a champion, bagging 18 wickets, while seasoned Krunal Pandya has taken his game to another level with 13 scalps. Not only has Pandya bagged wickets but he’s choked opposition out with frugal overs in the middle. Pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar (13) and Yash Dayal (9) have also been on the mark that has given RCB attack the bite it generally lacked.

Given the form of both the teams, RCB will surprisingly start as favourites against CSK but the fallen giants will want to go down swinging. And possibly hurt Challengers’ play-off bid.