Hello and welcome to Sportstar’s live coverage of the IPL 2022 match between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings at the MCA Stadium in Pune.

More spin. Moeen Ali comes into the attack now. He strikes! Faf holes out!

RCB 62/0 in 7 overs: Ravindra Jadeja into the attack. Five singles from it. Strong start by RCB openers.

RCB 57/0 in 6 overs: Theekshana replaces Simarjeet. Kohli gets a single first ball, Conway at cover saving a certain boundary. Six singles off Theekshana’s first over.

RCB 51/0 in 5 overs: FOUR! Mukesh gets a third over. Faf hits the first ball on the rise down the ground for four. Faf now nicks the third ball through an empty cordon for another four. RCB getting a move on. He collects two off the fourth and fifth balls, respectively. He smashes the last ball over long on for six. 18 off the over.

RCB 33/0 in 4 overs: Simarjeet getting a second over inside first six. MS Dhoni showing a lot of faith in his uncapped talents. du Plessis smashes a four second ball. du Plessis takes three off the third ball. SIX! Majestic from Kohli as he ends the over with a cracking punch over covers for a maximum. 13 from the over.

RCB 20/0 in 3 overs: Mukesh. Faf gets a boundary off the inside edge first ball. CSK have bowled well so far with both openers enjoying a slice of luck. 6 off the over including a wide.

RCB 14/0 in 2 overs: Simarjeet shares the new ball. Faf on strike. He starts with a wide. Next ball, Faf pinches a single. Kohli gets four to third man. The thick edge flies past second slip. Kohli would’ve had his heart in his mouth for a moment there. 2 off the last ball. 8 from the over.

RCB 6/0 in 1 over: Kohli and Faf du Plessis open for RCB. Mukesh Choudhary with the new ball. Kohli off the mark with a single. Faf picks one as well. Kohli collects four off the fifth ball.

DHONI HAS WON THE TOSS AND CSK WILL BOWL FIRST

MOEEN ALI REPLACES MITCHELL SANTNER

PREVIEW

It’s Faf du Plessis versus Chennai Super Kings part two. But there will be much more at stake on Wednesday night at the Maharashtra Cricket Association’s stadium than a veteran who was a permanent in the yellows before the big reshuffle facing the yellow brigade.

A look at the points table – with Super Kings having only six points from nine games and Royal Challengers Bangalore 10 in 10 – does not make it a must-win game for either team. But practically, for a variety of reasons, either team will be desperate to add two points in its kitty.

Super Kings, with Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s return to captaincy, appeared to be a settled unit for the first time this season during its win over Sunrisers Hyderabad here on Sunday.

It will be keen to not drop the guard down in its second consecutive southern Indian Derby. After all, another defeat can virtually end its hopes of defending the title.

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Royal Challengers, on the other hand, will be eager to return to winning ways. Having won five of its seven games, importing du Plessis as captain seemed to be working to precision. Since then, it has been a downhill run, with the team being winless in two weeks.

The lack of runs by the top order has been RCB’s primary concern. It will be hoping for Virat Kohli, who returned to scoring runs with a slow fifty against table-toppers Gujarat Titans over the weekend, to switch gears and Glenn Maxwell to accelerate in order to stay relevant in the race for the Playoffs.

While Royal Challengers are unlikely to change their combination, it will be interesting to see if Moeen Ali and Dwayne Bravo have recovered from their niggles. If either of them is available for selection, he will be in contention for a spot in the XI at the cost of Mitchell Santner.