Ruturaj Gaikwad-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will face Rajat Patidar’s Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in Match No. 8 of IPL 2025 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday. Both teams have won their last match and will look to continue the winning momentum in the ongoing IPL 2025 season.
Once again, all eyes will be on star batter Virat Kohli, who started IPL 2025 with a brilliant fifty (59 off 36) against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
During the game against KKR, Virat batted with a better strike against pacers. It will be interesting to see how he tackles spin trio of CSK – R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Noor Ahmad at Chepauk.
Speaking ahead of the much-anticipated clash, RCB batting coach and mentor Dinesh Karthik spoke about Kohli’s form against spinners.
“He has batted well in the recent past against spin, especially in white-ball cricket. So, I don’t want to go too deep into stats. I am not very aware. But if I remember, in the (T20) World Cup finals, he got runs where it mattered. And apart from that, in the Champions Trophy, he had a good tournament second-highest run-getter (for India). And that doesn’t come without playing spin,” said Karthik.
“So, I believe right now, he is batting as well as he has ever done. And you speak to him even today, just now as I came out. He wanted to work on one more shot. At this point of time, to work on one more shot, tells you the hunger that he has in his mindset. He wants to just improve and keep raising the bar. So, he is a special player. And at this point of time, the way I see it, he is batting as confidently and as well as he has ever done in IPL,” he added.
Notably, RCB’s only victory against CSK in Chennai came way back in only their second-ever meeting on May 21, 2008. However, Karthik isn’t worried about the past record.
“I don’t think there’s any problem. We played one match, a completely new side to what we had last year. One of the strengths, I believe, is the way we play spin. And as this tournament unfolds, you’ll see it happen,” he said.
“CSK have three good spinners, no doubt. But we also have very good batters, competent batsmen, who we trust. One of the reasons why we picked them is how well they play spin. I honestly feel that the way we are structuring our team, the way we are playing, and the way we intend to play makes this game very exciting for us. As a team, we are extremely excited and confident in our abilities,” he added.