The twelfth edition of the Indian Premier League will get underway with a mouth-watering clash between MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings and Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Saturday. Both the teams are pretty much on the extreme side of the success spectrum in the league. While the Chennai Super Kings are one of the most successful teams in the history of the league, Royal Challengers Bangalore are the perennial underachievers.
Chennai Super Kings, the reigning IPL champions, are one of the only two teams to have won the IPL thrice. On the other hand, Royal Challengers Bangalore are yet to lay their hands on the trophy despite making it to three finals. Last year was a perfect example of how both the teams have traditionally fared in the competition. While the Super Kings, returning to the league after two-year suspension, overcame all the obstacles to win the league, the Royal Challengers ended up at sixth position.
Both the teams nonetheless will be desperate to start the competition on a winning note. While the Super Kings will be eyeing to defend their title and become the first team to win it four times, the Royal Challengers will be looking to win their first-ever IPL title. Stats and history, however, are in Super Kings’ favour.
So far, Chennai and Bangalore have locked horns against each other on 22 occasions and the former have won 14 out of them.
In fact, the 14 wins are the most for the Super Kings against a single team in the IPL. What is even more alarming for Bangalore is that they have lost their last six encounters against Super Kings. Royal Challengers Bangalore have also never won a game against Super Kings in Chennai.
And while history does play a part in boosting or denting a team’s confidence, both the teams know that performance will get them over the line in the opener. The Chennai Super Kings will be keen to avoid complacency while the Royal Challengers Bangalore will be desperate to end the losing-streak.