Virat Kohli (L) and MS Dhoni© X (formerly Twitter)
Royal Challengers Bengaluru take on Chennai Super Kings in a crucial IPL 2024 encounter on Saturday with both of their playoff dreams heavily dependent on the result. While CSK have a slight advantage with 14 points from 13 matches, a good win for RCB can guarantee a spot in the Top-4 for the Faf Du Plessis-led side. Legendary India Sunil Gavaskar believes that CSK are extremely dangerous in these kind of situations due to their experience of playing on the big stage and he advised RCB to make it ‘virtually impossible’ for the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led side to reach a position where they can ‘turn the game around’.
“It’s not just the fact that they’ve won the title five times. Look at the number of times, they’ve been in the playoffs that is also a key. I think they’ve also been runner-ups three times. It just tells you that they know how to win key games,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.
“That’s where RCB have to be in such a situation that they make it virtually impossible for them to get into that situation where they can turn it around. So CSK will have to make sure that RCB don’t get off to a great start because that’s going to be key. If they get off to a start then you get the pretty stuff if in case we have a proper 20-overs game then RCB will dominate the game,” he added.
Both CSK and RCB will need a win to book their spot in the IPL 2024 playoffs but CSK can still qualify even if they lose the match. If CSK loses by a narrow margin, they will have 14 points – the same as RCB – and the race for the Top 4 spot will ultimately be decided by Net Run Rate (NRR).
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