Time: October 10, 7:30 PM IST
Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai
Pitch report
The average first innings score of 182 comes down to 150 in the second innings. The team batting first has won 8 of 10 matches.
Power players
It was at the very venue where Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson added an unbeaten stand of 181 runs in 17.4 overs. While du Plessis scored 87 off 53, Watson scored 4 runs fewer in as many balls. Du Plessis has been Chennai’s best batsman thus far, and Watson has scored consecutive fifties and is looking in ominous touch. Given the pitch has extra bounce, the opening duo perhaps feels at home.
After scoring a meagre 18 runs in the first three matches, Virat Kohli made amends with knocks of 72* and 43. Well, clichés are there for a reason: form is temporary, and class is permanent.
AB de Villiers has scores of 51, 28, 55*, and 9 at Dubai. He will play a crucial role in the middle-order if Bangalore are to play neck and neck with Chennai.
Smart picks
Bangalore have won every time Devdutt Padikkal scored a fifty, and he has three of them in five matches: twice while batting first and once during a chase. The onus of laying a strong foundation is on him as his opening partner Aaron Finch has been blowing hot and cold.
DJ Bravo picked a three-wicket haul in the previous game. What makes him valuable in fantasy sports is that he bowls at the death – a moment of the game when more wickets are likely to fall.
Sam Curran has been handy with both bat and ball: he has scored 68 runs and taken 7 wickets.
5 of Yuzvendra Chahal‘s 8 wickets have come at the very venue. Chennai have particularly been ineffective against spin. They will have to be mindful of Chahal’s wily leg-breaks.
Ravindra Jadeja may have been ordinary with the ball, but his batting skills have been fetching points for the fantasy players. He has scored 71 runs in his last two innings.
Probable XIs
Chennai: Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Sam Curran, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, DJ Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Karn Sharma
Bangalore: Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers (wk), Moeen Ali, Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Isuru Udana, Navdeep Saini, Mohammad Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal
