IPL 4 Qualifier 1 Royal Challengers Bangalore v Chennai Super Kings Preview

The exhausting IPL 4 league matches now give way to the final four matches, the qualifiers and the final. The IPL 4 qualifier this evening will feature the IPL 3 champions who have a point to prove and the red hot and rampaging Royal Challengers Bangalore.

csk v rcb

The 8pm dinner affair for Tuesday will see the Royal Challengers Bangalore contemplate doing to the Chennai Super Kings what they did to them in the second last league match in what turned out to be a dress rehearsal. And by those dress rehearsals, the Chennai Super Kings do not stand a chance.

The Chennai Super Kings were considered a strong favourite along with the Mumbai Indians. But the Royal Challengers Bangalore have announced themselves as the top favourites, having beaten Chennai, but also, brought in Chris Gayle with whom they have managed to soar to the top of the IPL 4 points table.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Chennai Super Kings, will have a lot on his mind, but he will try to keep it simple in that he will expect his team to rise to the occasion and change the scenario as has been presently painted. It will not be easy given that the Royal Challengers Bangalore batsmen will be up against the Chennai Super Kings bowlers and thus far the latter have shown far better than the latter that they want to win the contest.

For Chennai Super Kings, their best chances lie in taming Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli which is easier said than that. The present form that Gayle has been in, he is the IPL 4's leading batsmen with the most number of runs, having played fewer matches than others. With the kind of explosive form he is in, the Chennai team will have their work cut out, whether it is controlling the Royal Challengers Bangalore pace in batting or controlling their own temperament in their batting that has sometimes shown itself to be fragile if only for lack of cohesion.

Dhoni will have to lead from the front because he stands out as the one man who can inspire this suddenly sedate team to life. While Chennai will rely on strategy and temperament, the RCB will be hoping to stun Chennai yet again with flamboyance. For the RCB captain, Daniel Vettori, he will keep praying that Chris Gayle continues to play with potent for a couple of matches more.

Incidentally what makes this qualifier not entirely a do or die situation is the fact that the loser of the match will get a second shot at the IPL 4 final although winning here would be a straight ticket with plenty of rest to boot. It will not be hard to see what the teams will be aiming for.