IPL 2019, CSK vs RCB: 3 Players to watch out for

The much awaited 12th season of the Indian Premier League is just a few days away and franchises are geared up to take on each other. The fans are also very thrilled to watch their favourite players setting the league on fire. The tournament will kick-off on March 23, 2019, when MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings will take on Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore in a mouth-watering contest at MA Chidambaram Stadium.

The CSK-RCB rivalry is considered as one the greatest rivalries in IPL. However, CSK has always dominated the RCB. As far as their head to head record is concerned, both the teams have faced each other in 22 matches with CSK winning 14 of them while RCB winning just 7 of them and one match ended in no result.

Both the teams have adorned with many star players. Hence, the season opener between CSK and RCB is expected to be a cracker of a match.

Here we take a look at 3 players to watch out for in the first match of IPL 2019.

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#3 Umesh Yadav

Umesh Yadav will want to replicate his last year's performance in IPL 2019 as well

Umesh Yadav was in red hot form for RCB last season. In IPL 2018, he was exceptional with the new ball and took a good number of wickets with his swing and pace in the powerplay. However, he was not as effective in the death overs.

The 11th edition of IPL was one of the best seasons for Umesh as he picked up 20 wickets from 14 matches at an impressive average of 20.90 and an economy rate of 7.86 with 23/3 being his best.

So far in his IPL career, the right arm pacer has played a total of 12 matches against CSK and has picked up 10 wickets from 12 matches at an average of 30.20 and an economy rate of 7.55.

The 31-year-old will be RCB's premier Indian pacer and they will expect him to repeat his last season's performance this time as well. It will be interesting to watch how he bowls on the spin-friendly wicket of Chennai in the first match of the league.

#2 Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina has been one of the finest players to represent the Chennai based franchise. He is also renowned as Mr. IPL. The experienced batsman has been one of the most consistent batsmen in the league and is currently the highest run scorer in IPL with 4985 runs from 176 matches.

The southpaw has been a part of all the 22 CSK vs RCB encounters till date. Overall, he has played 26 matches against RCB and has smashed 642 runs at an average of 32.10 and a strike rate of 129.18 with unbeaten 73 being his best. Meanwhile, he has scored 4 fifties in the process.

Raina's ability to score quick runs and bat according to the situation makes him a great T20 player. The 32-year-old will be one of CSK's main batsmen in IPL 2018. He will have to do extremely well if CSK wants to defend their title. Mr. IPL will surely want to start the season with a bang by playing a good knock against RCB in the first match.

#3. Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli, the RCB captain is undoubtedly the best batsman of this generation. He has been in unbelievable form in the last few years. He is currently the second highest run scorer in IPL after Suresh Raina with 4948 runs from 163 matches. He is just 37 runs behind from the southpaw. It will be interesting to see if he could go past Raina to become the highest run scorer this IPL season.

King Kohli has impressive numbers against CSK as he has scored 732 runs from 22 matches at an average of 40.67 and a strike rate of 125.77 with 73 being his highest score. He has also scored 6 fifties against CSK.

If RCB wants to lift the trophy this time around, their skipper will have to perform exceedingly well not only in batting but in captaincy as well. Kohli will be a key to RCB's success. He will want to start the tournament on a good note by doing well in the first match.