The Southern Derby is back in the Indian Premier League again as the Royal Challengers Bangalore will face spirited Chennai Super Kings in their 11th match of he season on Thursday.
The absence of pace bowler Harshal Patel the last time around the two sides met had probably rocked the RCB boat, as they lost the high-scoring game by 23 runs after conceding a mammoth 216 runs.
“You see the value of Harshal (Patel), and what he offers. He has the ability to stop the game. We missed that (against CSK); we had a similar tone to the bowling. We lacked the variety we needed in our attack. Hopefully we can have him soon again,” du Plessis had said after the loss.
Gaikwad and Conway had stitched together a record 182-run opening stand, after which Mukesh Choudhary’s four-wicket haul sealed a 13-run victory over SRH at the same venue on May 1.
“I enjoyed batting with Devon. I am delighted for him as it was only his second match and he scored his maiden IPL fifty. We haven’t played together much, but we spend a lot of time in my room. Hence, we got to know about each other’s game, how we communicate and how we react to certain situations on the field. We already had off-field conversations and, thankfully, we shared a very good partnership,” Ruturaj had said after the game.
Super Kings and Bangalore have gone head to head 30 times, with CSK taking 20 wins and Bangalore getting nine wins, in addition to a no result.
