Two giants of world cricket – MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli might face off for the final time in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Saturday (May 18) at M Chinnaswamy in Bengaluru. The Clash of the Titans between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Chennai Super Kings will determine the fourth team to qualify for IPL 2024 playoffs, beginning May 21. Amidst reports of rain playing spoilsport in this marquee clash, here is the match preview and result prediction of the RCB vs CSK clash in IPL 2024.

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Match Preview

Two teams with contrasting setups but a common goal of winning will collide in the could-be match of the season. With three teams (KKR, RR and SRH) qualified for the playoffs, both sides will battle for the remaining one spot. 

While Chennai sits in a more comfortable position to go through with 14 points from 13 matches, needing just a win (by any margin), the hosts RCB (12 points) not only need to win, but they have to do with a considerable margin to better CSK’s Net Run Rate (NRR). Besides, with thunderstorms likely to spoil the mood during the game, RCB fans would be praying to the Rain Gods to stay away.

Meanwhile, considering the English duo of Will Jacks and Reece Topley has returned home, Aussie all-rounder Glenn Maxwell might find a place in the playing XI for RCB. 

The touring CSK side is short of international stars, including match-winners Matheesha Pathirana, Mustafizur Rahman and Moeen Ali, with India seamer Deepak Chahar ruled out with an injury. Ajinkya Rahane’s poor form with the bat mounts pressure on Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, who aims to guide his team to the playoff this season. 

All eyes, however, would be on ‘Thala’ MS Dhoni, who has scored 136 runs this season at a strike rate of a whopping 226.67. RCB’s star batter, Virat Kohli, is the leading run-scorer with 661 runs, striking at over 155. 

Head-to-Head and Weather Report

Chennai leads Bengaluru 21-10 in the head-to-head tally in IPL, while the weather report suggests an 80% chance of thunderstorms from 8 PM IST onwards.

Result Prediction –

Considering form and the weather conditions that could churn down the overs, the team batting second could benefit. Of the two, the hosts RCB have the best chance to spoil Dhoni’s swansong.  

Predicted Playing XIs of both teams –

RCB – Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Swapnil Singh, Karn Sharma, Lockie Ferguson and Mohammed Siraj

CSK – Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wk), Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande, Mitchell Santner/Richard Gleeson, Simarjeet Singh and Maheesh Theekshana

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