IPL 2018, RR v CSK: 5 player battles to look forward to in the game

#3 Ish Sodhi vs MS Dhoni

Ish Sodhi

He has played only two games so far but leg-spinner Ish Sodhi has quietly become one of the best performers in the RR bowling attack. The Kiwi may have taken only 2 wickets in those games so far but he has given them a degree of control during the middle overs and that was something they sorely lacked.

His accurate leg-spin has had a stifling effect on batsmen so far and an economy rate of 5.57 is ample proof of his contributions so far. Tonight, he will come up against the most aggressive batting side in the tournament and his duel with MS Dhoni could well prove to be one of the most important ones in the game.

The CSK captain has turned back the clock in this season of the IPL and his power-hitting in the middle-order has been one of the major factors behind the team’s climb to the top half of the table.

He is the team’s highest run-scorer with a total of 360 runs in 10 games but more importantly, he is averaging 90 and is striking at an astonishing rate of 165.89 to go along with that average. He has the ability to kill off the game but at the same time Sodhi will pose a new challenge for him and it would be very interesting to see how Dhoni handles him.