What

The ‘right to play in the Pepsi IPL 2015 Final’ will be at stake when the Chennai Super Kings take on the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Friday.

The Chennai Super Kings were the first team to qualify for the Playoffs and ended the league stage at the top of the table. However, they couldn’t get the better of Mumbai Indians in the first qualifier, and hence have been forced to take the slightly longer route of having to play in the second qualifier to progress to the final.

Royal Challengers Bangalore have turned on the heat at just the right time. They missed out on a top-two finish by a whisker, and hence have had to take the long route of – Eliminator-Qualifier2 – to get to the Final. They cleared the first hurdle in clinical fashion, getting the better of Rajasthan Royals by 71 runs in the Eliminator, and will be aware they are two steps away from lifting the IPL trophy for the first time.

RCB are surely the form team at the moment; they have won 6 of their last eight completed matches, while their opponents CSK have won only 3 of their last eight matches. RCB might begin favourites on the basis of form, but the crowd is sure to have their energies behind CSK, for the team will be led by the local lad MS Dhoni.

When

22 May 2015, 8p.m. IST

Where

JSCA International Cricket Stadium, Ranchi

The Protagonists

In the absence of Brendon McCullum, CSK will need their biggest match-winner over the years – Suresh Raina – to step up, and now! The left-hander has been hitting ball well, but just two half-centuries from him in a season is not the kind of contribution one is used to seeing from him. He needs to score a big one – possibly a big fifty or even a three-figure knock - to put his team in a good position.

On the bowling front, the pitch in Ranchi has generally assisted spinners and hence the likes of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Pawan Negi will be at the forefront of CSK’s plans. Ashish Nehra will be expected to prise out the dangerous top order and set the stage for the spinners to work a web around the RCB middle order.

Between them, Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers have consumed 68.5% of the overs batted by the team and have contributed to the extent of 71% of the runs scored by the RCB batsmen. One of the three needs to bat for the majority of the overs.

Mitchell Starc has given the RCB Bowling lineup plenty of teeth since he has joined the team; the Australian generally operates a stump-to-stump line, bowls a fuller length and is a tough customer to get away for runs. The left-arm quick appeared to be in a little bit of discomfort in the previous match; RCB need him to be fit and rearing to go.

Contests to look-forward to

CSK have in their ranks two bowlers – Dwayne Bravo and R Ashwin – who have dismissed Chris Gayle more often than others in Twenty20 cricket. Bravo has dismissed the left-hander on five occasions, while Ashwin has seen the back of the Jamaican batsman on four occasions. In context of the current season, Gayle is yet to face either Bravo or Ashwin, having missed both of RCB’s league games against CSK.

The battle between the left-arm quicks on either side too promises to be interesting. Ashish Nehra and Mitchell Starc have been a huge influence to their respective sides. In the two matches against RCB, Nehra has picked up seven wickets to go with an incredible economy rate of 3.63! Starc meanwhile has four wickets from two outings and has conceded runs at a run-a-ball. Which of the two quicks causes more damage could have a telling effect on the outcome of the match.

Previous Meetings

The head to head between the Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore stands at 11-7 in favour of the former. Even the recent record between the two teams is tilted in favour of CSK, who won both their league fixtures against RCB this season.

CSK have an edge when it comes to their last-four stage matches against RCB too. RCB won their semi-final against CSK in 2009, but CSK got the better of RCB in the next two occasions – in Qualifier 1 and in the Grand Final in the 2011 season.

Trivia

The last time a T20 match was played at the JSCA International Cricket Stadium in Ranchi was twelve months ago to the day - on 22 May 2014.

Over the years, CSK have never won a match played on 22 May; they have so far played two matches on May 22nd, but have lost both (Vs. RCB in 2011 and Vs. SRH in 2014).

Both teams have a 50% record in IPL matches in Ranchi. CSK have won two of their four IPL matches at the venue, while RCB have won one of their two IPL fixtures at the venue.

The average first innings total in IPL matches in Ranchi is 151. 4 of the 6 IPL matches at the venue have been won by the team chasing.

Spinners have accounted for 30 of the 58 wickets to have been picked up by bowlers in IPL matches in Ranchi.

What Next

The winner of this match will progress to Kolkata to take on the Mumbai Indians in the Final of Pepsi IPL 2015 scheduled for May 24. It will be the end of the road for the loser of this match; they will hope to come back a stronger outfit next season, go the distance and take home the silverware presented to the winners.