Chennai Super Kings will take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru in what is expected to be a spin fest at Chepauk on Friday. It has been nearly 17 years since RCB have beaten CSK at the MA Chidambaram stadium. CSK will miss the services of “baby Malinga” Matheesha Pathirana as he is out with injury. However, they will rely heavily on their spinners to do the job.
CSK predicted playing XI vs RCB
| Position | Player | Role |
| 1. | Ruturaj Gaikwad (C) | Batter |
| 2. | Rachin Ravindra | Batter |
| 3. | Rahul Tripathi | Batter |
| 4. | Shivam Dube | All-rounder |
| 5. | Deepak Hooda | All-rounder |
| 6. | Sam Curran | All-rounder |
| 7. | Ravindra Jadeja | All-rounder |
| 8. | MS Dhoni (WK) | Batter |
| 9. | Ravichandran Ashwin | All-rounder |
| 10. | Noor Ahmed | Bowler |
| 11. | Nathan Ellis | Bowler |
Gaikwad should open
CSK captain Gaikwad should refrain from not opening the innings for the side. He is at his best and has played most games while opening the innings for the side. The experiment to allow Tripathi to partner Rachin did not pay off as he was dismissed cheaply. Instead, it would be best to allow Tripathi to bat at number 3 – a role that he is familiar with.
Spin to win
Once again, CSK will rely heavily on their spinners to outfox RCB. Noor Ahmed, who bagged a 4-fer in his maiden outing for CSK, will once again be expected to wreak havoc on RCB. Ashwin and Jadeja will pair up to take down the familiar opponents. Since Pathirana is injured, CSK is likely to go ahead with Curran and Ellis as the frontline pacers, with Khaleel Ahmed coming in as the impact substitute.
CSK squad for IPL 2025
Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda, Shivam Dube, Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Noor Ahmad, Nathan Ellis, Khaleel Ahmed, Vijay Shankar, Jamie Overton, Shreyas Gopal, Devon Conway, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Mukesh Choudhary, Anshul Kamboj, Matheesha Pathirana, Gurjapneet Singh, Shaik Rasheed, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Andre Siddarth C, Vansh Bedi
