IPL 2018: Match 35, Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore – Expectation vs Reality

Knowing that the upcoming encounter in the Indian Premier League (IPL) is between the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) is a feeling of sheer joy that only a cricket fan can understand. The prospect of watching two cricketers as amazing as MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli face off against each other is the ultimate treat for every cricket lover. The second encounter of the ongoing season of the IPL between the two sides will take place in Pune.

It was the CSK who had the last laugh against the RCB in their previous clash, as they chased down a mighty target of 206 runs with jaw-dropping ease. While they’ll be looking to repeat the same result, RCB will be hunting for another win in order to keep themselves alive in the tournament. Before the real action starts, let’s take a sneak peek at what we’re expecting from this high-octane encounter while we for the reality to unfold.

Virat Kohli dealing in centuries

Nobody’s forgotten the unbelievable feat of scoring four centuries in a single IPL season that Kohli raked up in 2016. Ever since fans have been waiting for another stellar score from the star batsman. While Kohli has been in good touch, he’s yet to score a century this year. His highest score up till now is an unbeaten knock of 92 runs against the Mumbai Indians (MI).

Currently, RCB need to win 5 out of their upcoming 6 encounters to have a shot at qualifying for the playoffs. Although he’ll be playing against the CSK, there is a cloud of doubt looming over the fitness of their prize player, AB de Villiers. Hence, we can expect Virat Kohli to put up his hand and lead from the front. Having scored only 18 runs against CSK in the previous match, he can be expected to redeem himself this time around and a century might just be around the corner for the RCB skipper.

MS Dhoni finishing ‘off in style’

MS Dhoni’s prowess at finishing innings needs no introduction. With a mind as cool as a cucumber, MSD has signed off in so many matches with blistering shots in the final overs that we’ve almost lost count. CSK would be reeling from their recent defeat at the hands of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Thursday, after an unceremonious lump in batting after the tenth over of their batting innings.

As a result, the onus will be on Dhoni to fortify the middle order like always and one can surely expect captain cool to bat his heart and soul out. Amidst chants and cheers in their favour, the CSK team will be charged up to extract a similar result from the RCB game as they did a week ago and to do that, the batting will have to be top notch against as strong a batting line-up as RCB. Hence, we can all expect MS Dhoni to smash quite a few of ’em out of the park in his signature style!

Here’s the reality right after the match..

Jadeja and Bhajji spin the web

After being invited to bat first, one had felt that the duo of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers will smack the ball all around the park. But what transpired in the middle miffed the fans as the former was castled by Ravindra Jadeja and De Villiers was stumped off Harbhajan Singh. The duo shared 5 wickets between them as RCB were reduced to 89/8 at one stage. But some fireworks from Tim Southee, in the end, propelled them to a fighting total of 127 runs on a slow wicket.

As expected, MSD finishes it off

The chase had got tricky for CSK as they had lost their man in form Ambati Rayudu in the second half of the innings. But RCB failed to go past one man and he was undoubtedly MS Dhoni. He absorbed all the pressure after coming in to bat and then took the onus upon him to finish the game. He chose the 18th over of Yuzvendra Chahal to launch the attack and smashed for three sixes in an over to end all the hopes of RCB and finished the game there itself. It was all about the execution from the master and he did it perfectly.

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