Chennai Super Kings have won the toss and have opted to bowl first in the game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. It has been nearly 17 years since RCB has beaten CSK in Chennai. Both RCB and CSK have started their IPL 2025 campaigns on victorious notes, having defeated MI and KKR respectively.
CSK playing XI vs RCB
1. Rahul Tripathi
2. Rachin Ravindra
3. Ruturaj Gaikwad (C)
4. Deepak Hooda
5. Sam Curran
6. Ravindra Jadeja
7. MS Dhoni
8. Ravichandran Ashwin
9. Noor Ahmed
10. Matheesha Pathirana
11. Khaleel Ahmed
How CSK fooled RCB
Pathirana will replace Nathan Ellis in CSK’s playing XI against RCB. The Sri Lankan pacer had earlier missed the side’s IPL 2025 opener against RCB. While CSK coach Stephen Fleming had claimed that the bowler was injured ahead of the RCB tie, he has been included in the line-up.
“I think it will play slightly better than the last game. So far there hasn’t been any dew, we don’t know when the dew will arrive and it is not in our control. There are areas; we were sitting behind in the field and would like to be more aggressive, batting wise we can be more clinical,” CSK captain Gaikwad said after winning the toss.
On Thursday, CSK head coach Fleming had mentioned that Pathirana was still recovering, as per the Indian Express. It is important to note that the 22-year-old, who has modelled his action on that of compatriot Lasith Malinga, had joined CSK ahead of IPL 2022.In the last match to, Khaleel had stepped up in Pathirana’s absence, where he picked up three wickets. Nathan Ellis was the other pacer in the team in the match vs MI.
