RCB take on Chennai from 3pm on Sky Sports Cricket, when England's Jonny Bairstow and Luke Wright will join us in the studio
Thursday 26 April 2018 08:29, UK
Here's what's in store in the Indian Premier League today...
The Chennai Super Kings will go back top of the IPL table with a win over Royal Challengers Bangalore - who look to move up into the playoff mix with a second-straight win - as the two teams meet at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. Watch all the action from 3pm on Sky Sports Cricket (channel 404) and Main Event (channel 401).
Following on from their disastrous 2017 which saw them notch only three wins, RCB fans may have been worried as their star-studded team again got off to a sluggish start, losing three of their first four, but they looked back to their best with an emphatic six-wicket win over the Delhi Daredevils in their latest outing.
AB de Villiers, in particular, dazzled with a simply stunning 90 not out off 39 balls, featuring 10 fours and five sixes, as RCB successfully chased down a stiff 175-run target. Virat Kohli showed flashes too in striking 30 before a stunning Trent Boult catch on the boundary ended his innings rather abruptly. The Bangalore captain is firing in the IPL though, third in the leading run-scorer's charts with 231 at an average of 57.75 over his five innings.
Chennai, along with current table-toppers Kings XI Punjab, are the form team in the tournament. In fact, a thrilling four-run reverse to Kings XI is their only loss to date. Chris Gayle and MS Dhoni rolled back the years in that one, with Gayle first blasting 63 from 33 for Kings XI as they posted 197-7, before Dhoni's unbeaten 79 off 44 balls took the Super Kings close but agonisingly short.
They've won every other game, with plenty more big-hitting efforts with the bat contributing to their success - Dwayne Bravo (68 off 30) was their match-winner in the tournament opener against the Mumbai Indians, Sam Billings (56 off 23) helped beat the Kolkata Knight Riders, a Shane Watson (106 off 57) century saw them past the Rajasthan Royals and Ambati Rayudu (79 off 37) impressed against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
How can it not be Kohli and De Villiers? Also, speedster Umesh Yadav has been utterly devastating for RCB, particularly early in the innings, claiming eight wickets at 21.50.
Talking about making an impact up front, Chennai's Deepak Chahar comes into this game off the back of impressive 3-15 figures from the latest win over Sunrisers - midway through his third over he had three wickets for only one run. West Indian allrounder Bravo, meanwhile, continues to be the Super Kings' go to man at the death.
Chris Woakes' mixed IPL for RCB continues - he has an impressive eight wickets through his first five games, but he has been expensive, going at 10.36 an over - while Moeen Ali is still waiting on a first start for the franchise.
David Willey too is yet to play for Chennai, while Mark Wood has been confined to the sidelines since conceding 49 runs on debut in the opening game of the competition. Since his match-winning 56 against Kolkata, Sam Billings has played every game, though has added only 12 further runs in his two innings.
Matt Floyd will be joined by England wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow as well as former international Luke Wright, now T20 skipper at Sussex. We'll also be hearing from Bairstow on a special Sky Cricket Podcast - download via skysports.com/cricket on Wednesday afternoon.
Sky Sports will continue to show every IPL game live, so fans from all over can enjoy the best of Indian cricket.
