There is one match in the Indian Premier League on Friday as the IPL 2025 season heads to Chepauk for the second time this term for the clash between the Chennai Super Kings and the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
These two sides both won their opening match so the reward for the winners will be to set the pace heading into the second weekend of the competition. Losing wouldn’t be the end of the world but it is always nice to be up with the pace or setting it.
Chennai Super Kings
The Chennai Super Kings were fancied to win their opening match against the Mumbai Indians and the delivered on that billing. You wouldn’t say it was the best performance they will have ever put out but it was more than good enough to get the job done and with natural improvement coming out of those who either didn’t spend much time in these conditions prior to the campaign, or those who don’t play as much cricket as they used to these days, we should expect more from Chennai in this one.
Chennai were probably disappointed to be chasing 156 to win that opening game as they let a former player Deepak Chahar come back to haunt them at the end of their bowling innings but although the needed until the final over to get the job done, the Super Kings did chase it down although their middle order nearly cost them with some indifferent cricket. They will be hoping that someone takes responsibility in that part of the order and if they do then Chennai look in decent early shape.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
The Royal Challengers Bangalore looked like they might have been on the wrong end of a bit of a hiding after 10 overs of their opening match. The Kolkata Knight Riders had set their innings up well at the halfway point but the Royal Challengers bowlers deserve enormous credit for pulling everything back and in the end they kept them down to an extremely manageable score, a score which they never really looked like being in danger of not chasing down.
I would imagine Bangalore would gladly accept a repeat of that performance although they probably want to bowl better with the new ball. So often matches are won with the bat in Chennai against the new ball so if they can make a slightly better job when they have that new nut in their hands it could be the difference. We saw in Kolkata though that this batting unit look in decent nick and moving forward in this tournament that certainly won’t be a bad thing.
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Key Players
Rachin Ravindra only batted in the first game for the Chennai Super Kings but the fact that he can bowl some spin too makes him a big player for the men in yellow not just in this match but in any home game that they play.
Virat Kohli is always the man looked upon to carry the batting efforts of the Royal Challengers Bangalore and therefore it was a huge positive for them that he got off to a decent start in the first game. He will be key for the visitors here.
Betting
I’m expecting something of a trial by spin in this match and as a result of that we could see the scoring a lot lower than we have seen in the tournament so far. To be fair, that is usually the case in Chepauk and so the run line for this one could be a little on the high side at 338.5. The under safely sailed in when the first game was played here this season and with the amount of spinners on show in a spin friendly venue scores in and around 170 could be asking a little too much.
Chennai bowled 11 overs of spin in their opening match and that yielded 5-70 while on a different ground Royal Challengers Bangalore offered up six overs of spin which yielded 3-43 so both teams have solid spin departments. Bangalore have a batting unit that with the exception maybe of Virat Kohli would prefer pace on the ball. One of the pacers involved here, Josh Hazlewood, is usually watertight so there is a lot to like with the ball here. The Chennai middle order fluffed their lines in the first game so they might be looking for some form so there is enough to merit a bet on the under.
Tips
Back Under 338.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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