IPL 2021, RCB vs CSK: 3 player battles to watch out for

The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have gone back to their gold standard style of playing in the IPL. The street-smart style of cricket proved to be a winner as they pulled off a stunning 20-run win over Mumbai Indians (MI). They will look to continue the same momentum when they face off against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Friday (September 24).

Virat Kohli's men went down to CSK in their first match in the India leg after Ravindra Jadeja slammed an unbeaten 62 off 28 balls and later came back to roll up his sleeves and pick up three wickets, taking his side home with a 69-run win.

Bangalore suffered a woeful loss to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) after being bundled out for 92, and will look to make amends and stay in the top half of the points table. Kohli's extended net session signals a storm brewing and the side will hope to hit the ground up and running with a win.

Ahead of the clash, we take a look at the key player battles when CSK lock horns with RCB in the marquee clash.

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#1 Virat Kohli vs Deepak Chahar

Kohli will be up against Deepak Chahar, one of Chennai's most successful bowlers with two four-wicket hauls to his name. He has 10 wickets in the 2021 IPL so far.

With 203 runs from eight games, Kohli comes with an average of 29 and a strike-rate of 121.55, making this an enticing match-up.

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#2 Faf du Plessis vs Kyle Jamieson

Pace and bounce meet solid batting. While Jamieson has been expensive for RCB, especially in the previous game against KKR, he's also got the ability to deceive batsmen with a nippy yorker and the sudden bounce.

Du Plessis, meanwhile, has been great with the bat for CSK, with 320 runs in eight games. The South African batsman is currently striking at 143.49 with an average of 46.71 from his eight outings in the IPL so far.

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#3 Yuzvendra Chahal vs CSK skipper MS Dhoni

The World T20 snub has had to hurt. It has been a rather different IPL for Chahal with just five wickets in eight matches. He picked up one wicket against Kolkata, but was put away for 23 runs.

Dhoni will be keen to flex those muscles for CSK and chip in for the side with a solid knock. Should he fall to Chahal, it might just be what the RCB spinner needed after his substandard start to this edition.